The Landing
The fleet left before sunset, probably about 17:00GMT, well before low tide, assisted by outflowing currents. Apparently William’s ship, the Mora, a gift from his wife, moved so fast that it lost sight of the others, so he dropped anchor and called for a feast aboard, to allay fears. As they waited, the ships came up. Two ships were blown off course, to land near Old Romney, where their crews were killed by the English. The rest of the ships crossed safely and, early next morning the fleet arrived off Pevensey.
In 1066 the town with its Roman fortress lay on a spit of land on the west side of a large tidal lagoon with mud flats. The mouth of the lagoon was partly closed by a shingle bank. It is not clear where the fleet disembarked. There was a harbour, probably with wharves, by the north wall of the fort, and William’s ship, the horse transports and garrison vessels may have made for this. Some may have come into the lagoon and beached on the flats at low tide, or else along the shingle. When William landed he stumbled and fell, a bad omen, but a knight nearby told him he had the earth of England in his hands.
There was no opposition, for Harold was still in the north. The Normans erected a perhaps prefabricated timber castle in the Roman fortress. It may have been the same day or that following when William moved the army eastwards to Hastings. The town lay on a peninsula between two marshy river estuaries, ideal for a protected camp similar to the Viking habit of camping on an island and the only dry route was a prehistoric track running north between the two river valleys.
William now set about devastating the area, not only to bring in food, but to lure Harold south to avenge his people.