By the late 1360s, and into the 1370s, England had lost command of the sea leaving its coasts exposed to attack by the French and their Spanish allies. In 1377, only ten days after the death of Edward III, the French attacked the Isle of BODIAM cont'd ..... Wight and sacked the coastal cities of Rye and Winchelsea.

Having spent heavily to maintain Calais, the crown could not afford new defenses needed in southeast England. In order to up-date existing defenses, citizens played their part alongside the crown in strengthening town walls. Wealthy landowners and retired generals in the area received royal license to fortify their manors or build castles themselves.

Sir Edward Dalyngrigge returned from the Hundred Years War against the French in 1377 ..... immensely more wealthy and powerful. He married Elizabeth Wardieux, heiress of the family of Wardedieu, who held the manor of Bodyham, on the shores of the Rother, just ten miles upriver from the English Channel. The Wardedieus themselves had acquired the manor by marriage from the de Bodeham family, who had held it since the Norman Conquest, when it was granted to Hugh of Eu, whose son first took the title 'de Bodeham from the name of the Saxon settlement on the site.

Sir Edward was in possession of the manor by 1378. Concerned not only about the general threat from the French but also because of his reputation in France, he applied to King Richard II for a license to fortify the manor and it was granted. The following is an excerpt from the original license:

   The King to all men to whom etc. greeting. Know that of our special grace we have granted and given license on behalf of ourselves and our heirs, so far as in us lies, to our beloved and faithful Edward Dalyngrigge Knight, that he may strengthen with a wall of stone and lime, and crenellate and may construct and make into a castle his manor house of Bodyham, near the sea, in the County of Sussex, for the defense of the adjacent country, and the resistance to our enemies, and may hold his aforsaid house so strengthened and crenellated and made into a Castle for himself and his heirs for ever, without let or hindrance of ourselves or our heirs, or of any of our agents whatsoever. In witness of which etc. The King at Westminster 20 October, 1385.

Rather than reinforcing his existing manor house, however, Sir Edward selected an entirely new site in a slightly elevated position with a commanding view of a bridge and the important wharves on the Rother River. There he built an entirely new castle ... a vast yet simple rectangular structure influenced by French design with towers at each corner and a main entrance in the north face reached by lengthy wooden walkways and drawbridges. The whole castle was made doubly secure by being entirely surrounded by water - an impressive moat covering more than three acres. One of the largest building sites in England at that time, the construction of Bodiam, at times employed over one thousand men. Stone for Bodiam was quarried ten miles away at Wadhurst. The castle was completed in about 1388.

Despite the threat from the French, the walls of Bodiam were never to be put to the test by foreign invaders. It faced its greatest danger at the hands of the English themselves: in 1483, during the Wars of the Roses. Richard III urged the Earl of Surrey to regain "Bodyham which the rebels have seized". The expected battle failed to materialize and the castle was surrendered.

Little changed until the 1640's when the English Civil War inflicted the greatest damage Bodiam had yet seen. Following his victory at nearby Arundel, Sir William Waller and his men largely demolished the fort to rubble, making it of no use to the "enemy". (Note the absence of the roofs and damage to the interior walls)

The castle lay in ruin for nearly 200 years when "Mad Jack" Fuller began the slow process of restoring Bodiam to something approaching its former glory. Subsequent owners continued the process including Lord Curzon who was responsible for the major revival and who left it to the nation in 1925. Today it is owned by the National Trust.