Three Months in Albion: 14.08.12 - Day Trip to Battle Abbey

(Battle, UK) - The Battle of Battle

It might come as a shock to learn that the Battle of Hastings did not actually take place in Hastings. Hastings Castle is where William the Conqueror gathered his troops before the famous battle on the 14 October 1066, but he marched to Senlac Hill, in what is now the town of Battle, to meet King Harold of England's troops for the decisive...er...battle.

I wake up feeling groggy, recovering from a minor illness of some kind, but even that can't dissuade me from going out. I catch a Countryliner from Harold Place to Battle Abbey, ever eager to do more touristy things.

The Abbey gate to what is now used as a school inside (see below). This was constructed
much later than the Abbey, but it still looks pretty cool.

I have to pause here a moment to reflect on Hastings and its surrounding area's things to do. Battle seems to be where it's at. The town is cute, nestled into hills, and it seems to have better food and pubs. If I had to do this over again (the whole stay a few days then travel shenanigans), I would stay in Battle and bus to Hastings instead of the other way around.

Moving on. Once inside the grounds, the first thing I notice are the dozens of children foam-sword fighting and yelling like freaks. "You're dead," one says, and the dead one lays on the ground, playing his or her part. They also apparently do youth jousting, which means whatever you imagine it means. I can just picture kids running at each other with foam lances and holding shields now...

I grab my audio guide and head down the path to the battlefield. Though the audio tour informs me that Senlac Hill is not quite the same as it was during William the Conqueror and Harold of England's time, it's still pretty damn beautiful, and it's difficult not to get a bit teary-eyed listening as the professional voice narrator paints the picture of that fateful day in October. It had become farming land and heavily used in the years following the Conquest. There now are a few man-made ponds which are great for irrigation and breeding mosquitoes.

(On another side-note, the way the narrator explains the tactics and the way the battle went, sort of shows how good Mount & Blade is at getting the little bits correct. The Huscarls in that game, for instance, fight exactly like they did under Harold's command. i.e. charging in and/or holding the shield wall, throwing spears, etc.)

Here's the battlefield as I walk around it.

A good, distant view of the ruined abbey, built by William right where the battle took place.

As you make your way around the east, north, and west sides of the battlefield, you can see how the hill has been leveled off where the Abbey now stands, but Williams infantry and cavalry would have had to scale it while being hit by spears and rocks from the English.

A tree!

The Abbey was erected by William on the exact spot that the battle took place. The monks didn't actually want to build here because the land was so slanted and it didn't allow for solid foundation. They started building in some other area and William got pissed and told them to tear it down and start again where he told them to.

There is quite a lot of the abbey still surviving. Of course the roof is not there anymore and a few walls have fallen away, but it's there.

This was the church, modeled, the audio guide says, on Westminster Abbey, which had recently been constructed. It was destroyed during the Dissolution in the 15th century. The crypt still remains.