Hastings, August 1999

John Burke's Hastings, August 1999
Battle Abbey and Senlac Field

Monday 2 August 1999

We leave Hastings and come, by a rather torturous route - why are roadsigns always designed for locals who already know where to go? - to a place called Battle. We stopped first to eat in this old tea shop.

It was crowded outside and we elected to sit inside, there being no choice - fatalistic.. that's us...

William Duke of Normandy had visited his cousin, King Edward (the Confessor) of England in 1051 and was given Edward's promise that the crown would pass to him on Edward's death. On his death in 1066, the nobles, not fancying a foreigner as king, crowned instead Harold Godwinson, another cousin with an equally good claim to the thone.

William landed on the beach at Pevensey with about 7,000 Bretons, Normans, French and Flemish troops. Harold was in the north, having just won that day a great victory over the Vikings at Stamford Bridge when news reached him of the invasion. He hurried south to do battle, his army covering almost 400 miles in 29 days in two forced marches.

We are looking over the battlefield with our backs to the abbey that William had promised to build should he be victorious.

The English line extended for 800 yards to our side and over the parkland which has little changed since 1066, William's forces advanced against the shield wall of Harold's men. They met with little success.

Harold's men then rashly disobeyed orders, chasing the retreated Normans until they themselves became easy targets for a flanking action. Later in the battle, which lasted most of the day, this defeat, turned to victory because of the breaking of Harold's ranks was repeated, giving William a chance to attack the weakened line of Englishmen.

Things were still looking bad for the invaders when Harold was struck, by tradition, in the eye. In pain which can only be imagined, he managed to stand, but word spread through his army that he was dead.

His Guard gathered about him but the tide had turned.

As dusk was falling, William's men hacked their way into the diminishing circle of men about Harold. They found the King, still alive and supported by servants and there they killed him.

The rest of his men fled the field, leaving William victorious, the last successful invader of England by force.

The tree stands over the site where Harold fell. William built his promised abbey and, so tradition has it, placed the high altar over the spot where Harold died.

The remains of Battle Abbey today. The abbey church was started in the early 1070s and was consecrated in 1076. Building carried on into the 1090s.

To the right is the staircase from where I took the photograph of Fran with Mum and Dad standing on the battlefield.

Left: the novices' accomodation.

The foundations of the choir (right).

This is the entrance to an ice house. A series of irregular steps lead down to an egg-shaped chamber, which seemed immensely deep in the gloom of underground. I should have tried to take a shot on the digital camera, but I had my sunglasses on anyway - Fran had my ordinary glasses in her bag and had wandered off with Mum somewhere - so I was concentrating more on not falling down the 80 feet or so to the bottom.

This is where the pond ice of winter would be placed. In the depths it would last all summer.

We have seen this tree before. It is the one standing over the spot where it is thought Harold was killed. The people under the tree are looking at the modern memorial slab, placed where the high altar of the abbey stood.

My finger was smarting. I looked down to see it was bleeding - I must have scraped it against a wall without noticing. My blood fell to the ground, there to mingle with that of kings and knights. I would have taken a photo of the wound but to be honest, it wasn't that impressive...