SAXON HASTINGS.
The Roman occupation of Britain extended for over four-and-a half centuries, and upon the fall of Rome their legions began to evacuate the country. Haydn's Dictionary of Dates states "that the Romans gradually withdrew from Britain from 402-436."
Prior to their departure their powers had begun to wane and they had frequently to repel the attacks of those bold sea-rovers known as the Saxons, who eventually established themselves in 477 under the Saxon AELLA who founded the kingdom of the South Saxons or Sussex, although the Britons made strenuous attempts to check their advance, and it is supposed their great stand was made on the Sussex Shore culminating in the siege of Andredecester now recognised by historians to be the Pevensey now known to us. The Kingdom of the South Saxons probably included that part of the shore upon which Hastings is founded. The earliest reference to Hastings is contained in the Chronicle of Simeon of Durham, written in the 12th century, who compiled his record from earlier Saxon documents: that in 771 Offa, King of the Merceans, subdued by force of arms the Race of the Hastingi. From this race or tribe some writers claim our town received its name, while others state it was derived from a Danish Pirate of that name whose followers overran this part of the coast about 893. The former belief is supported by Sharon Turner in his History of the Anglo-Saxons, while the latter is given on the authority of Camden. The former claims the more credence, as it was discovered that the town was known as a port a century before the Viking Hastings flourished. Cole, in quoting from Taylor's Words and Places, says, "The Hastings, the noblest race of the Goths, seem to have held the eastern part of Sussex (known since the Conquest under the name of the rape of Hastings) as an independent community. Portus Novus falling into their hands after its adandonment by the Romans, became their capital, and thus acquired the name of Hastings by which it has ever since been known." And in the Charter granted by the Abbey of St. Denis in 790, Hastings is described as a Seaport. Dawson further states that "The earliest direct and unquestionably genuine reference to Hastings is that in the law of Athelstan, where a moneyer is appointed to the Mint at Hastings." This would point to the importance of Hastings as early as 924. This Mint is said to have been (as was usual) within the precincts of a fortress, and leads to the supposed existence of a Castle here before the Conquest. One of the earliest masters of the Hastings Mint was named Bridd according to Ruding in his work on coinage. Cole suggests him as an ancestor of the present family of Breeds (which family can certainly claim a long ancestry here). Another local writer has ventured an opinion that Bridd's descendants are represented by the local family of Brett or Britt on the ground that double D is pronounced like th. Might not Bridd have been a Welshman? There -
