Battle Abbey

Not far from my little house is somewhere that I have wanted to visit for ages, the site of probably the most famous battle to take place on English soil. It is the Abbey in the town of Battle located on a narrow ridge a few miles north of Hastings in East Sussex.

Battle Abbey was built on Senlac Hill which is the real site of the Battle of Hastings where in the year 1066 Duke William of Normandy defeated King Harold of England to take the English Crown. This was the last time that this country has been successfully invaded by a foreign power, although the French, Spanish and Germans have attempted to recreate this feat on several occasions since, without success.

Duke William (The Conquerer) ordained that an Abbey should be built on the actual site of the battle to commemorate all the dead from each side. However the site was totally unsuitable for large scale construction projects as it was situated on a steep hill with marsh land in the valleys on either side. So the Monks and builders began to construct the Abbey on more suitable flatter land a few miles away. When William heard of this he was extremely angry and ordered them to build on the original site.  To do this they had to level out the hillside and make a flat terrace on the summit, so today the actual slope of Senlac Hill is shallower than it was in 1066.

The actual Battle was a near run thing for the Normans who were in danger of losing several times throughout the day. In the morning King Harold's Saxon Army (who were tired out after a forced march from Stamford Hill near York) formed up their shield wall on the summit of the hill and awaited the attack.

The Norman infantry tried several times to break the shield wall without success and after fierce fighting fell back in disarray. The Saxons seeing this retreat broke up their shield wall and pursued the enemy, unfortunately for them the Norman cavalry then attacked them in the open inflicting many casualties.

Although the shield wall was rebuilt, William attacked again and after a short fight, feigned retreat, tricking the Saxons into pursuing his infantry for a second time. Once again the Normans caught the Saxons in the open with their cavalry inflicting serious losses on them. William also sent in a  hit squad of his best knights to hunt down and kill Harold. On seeing their King being butchered and being unable to reform the shield wall the Saxon army began to retreat but were ruthlessly cut down by the Norman cavalry.

Battle Abbey which is maintained by English Heritage is well worth visiting, there is an excellent visitors centre and you can also follow a trail around the site of the battle with an audio device explaining all about the battle and the building of the abbey.