A visit to "The Court House" at Pevensey is a step back in time to Medieval England.
From a document quoted in Mr. Salzman's "History of Hailsham" we know that the Bailiff and Jurats were holding "the quenes majesties court" at Pevensey in 1590 and we also know that the Court House was built by 1595. By this time the Cinque Ports organisation was the only one in the Borough capable of initiating a project of this kind. By early Tudor times the Castle had fallen into disrepair and was no longer inhabited, but Pevensey, like the rest of England, was recovering from the series of disasters which befell it during the 14th and 15th centuries, The Black Death, the Peasant's Revolt, the Hundred Years War, and the Wars of the Roses and sea trade was making the country prosperous. The end of Queen Elizabeth l's reign was a comparatively prosperous time before the harbour finally silted up, and Pevensey ceased to be a port: even after its trade was finished, Pevensey remained a member of the Cinque Ports and the Bailiff and Jurats continued to function in the Court House. With its cells at ground level, and Court Room and Robing Room above, the Court House is clearly purpose built, and we must assume that the Bailiff and Jurats held Courts here from the time that it was built. This was before 1595, as we have a copy on the walls of the Court House of a rough plan of Pevensey, drawn in that year, which shows a building on this site with what is obviously a flight of steps like those of the present Court House.
On the ground floor are small prison cells and a small yard, while on the upper floor is the court house with it's benches, dock and magistrates robing chamber .