South East Battle, East Sussex and the Battle of Hastings.....

Battle is an attractive small market town in East Sussex, famous for being the site of the Battle of Hastings where William the Conqueror defeated Harold Godwinson for the throne of England.

Prior to 1066, the area was scrub and heathland and was relatively empty and unpopulated. A town grew up around the Abbey of St Martin which was built by William after the battle, in thanksgiving for his victory. (It is said that William vowed that should he win the battle he would build such an abbey. )

Battle merited only a small entry in Domesday Book. It was a farming area with no useful raw materials or river. Although the temporary Abbey buildings were finished by 1076, the village to support the abbey was only just beginning to be built.

A settlement grew up outside the abbey gates and by the C12th there were 115 householders including shoemakers, smiths, carpenters bakers and weavers. Battle was granted a charter for a fair and the church of St Mary was built to provide a place of worship for the townspeople outside the Abbey precinct.

Most of the area was heavily wooded and provided oak and other timbers for navy shipyards, power for making cannons (shipped to Portsmouth or Chatham), cannonballs and gunpowder. By the end of the C16th it had a reputation for the quality of the gunpowder produced in the area. Mills supplied British Army with gunpowder up to the Crimean War.

The town centre is still unspoilt and has many fine buildings with timber framed buildings dated from the C15th, stone buildings built using recycled stone from the Dissolved Monastery buildings to brick and tiled ones.

It also has a good selection of small independent shops and many of the old coaching inns still survive

Abbey Green in front of the Abbey gatehouse has a cobbled bullring, the remains of the once popular sport of bull baiting

The Pilgrim’s Rest overlooking Abbey Green is a C15th hall house and now a wedding venue.

At the northern end of the High Street is the Almonry. Despite its name it never actually was an Almonry. The name probably comes from the land it was built on which was set aside for the use of the Almoner of the Abbey. It would have been the farmhouse for the Almonry Farm.

There has been a house on this site since 1090 but the present building dates from the C15th and was extended in the C16th. It has an internal courtyard, now a public garden. The building was sold to Town Council in 1980 and now houses the council offices, a tourist information point and the local history museum.

Battle is best explored on foot and there is a very informative town trail.

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[Eleanor]

Battle Abbey - an overview

Edward the Confessor died without a direct heir. Edward had spent much of his early life in Normandy and was related to William through his mother and may have named William his heir. Harold Godwinson had made a trip to Normandy in 1064 and, according to Norman records, swore an oath of loyalty to William and uphold William’s claim to the throne.

On his deathbed, Edward granted England to the ‘protection’ of his brother in law, Harold Godwinson. Harold was powerful and popular, as well as being head of the royal army, and was immediately chosen by the Witan (the King’s Council) to succeed Edward. He was crowned the following day.

William understandably wasn’t pleased by this, as England was a richest kingdoms in Europe. He began to make plans to invade England.

History is written by the victor and the question of Edward’s intentions has long exercised the minds of historians.

The rival claims of Harold and William would be resolved by force at the Battle of Hastings.

William landed at Pevensey Bay in September with approximately 700 warships carrying 5,000-7,000 men including 3000 mounted Knights. He moved eastwards and fortified his position. Harold had just defeated Harald Hadrada at the Battle of Stamford Bridge near York and had to march south to intercept south.

The two armies met at Senlac Hill close to Hastings on 14th October. Fighting was fierce, lasting all day until the death of Harold. There are differing accounts of how he died. One describes how an arrow struck him in the right eye, an event possibly depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry. But one of the earliest sources describes Harold being hacked to death at the hands of four Norman knights, in graphic detail. Leaderless, and lacking hope, the English forces finally gave way and fled.

The victorious William marched to London and was crowned king on Christmas Day 1066.

The battle was one of the most significant battles to be fought on English soil, marking the end of Saxon rule and introducing a new ruling class, new architecture, language and laws.

Before setting sale for England William, William had made a vow he would establish a monastery on the site of the his Victory and as an act of penance for the blood shed. An engraved stone now marks the place where Harold died.

This was one of the first Norman churches and monasteries to be built and was a visible symbol of the piety and power of the Norman rule. It became one of the richest monastic houses in England.

Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the abbey passed into private hands and most of the monastic buildings were demolished apart from the Abbot’s lodgings which are now used by Battle School. The rest of the estate, consisting of the battlefield, monastic ruins and the gatehouse, is now in the care of English heritage. There is an introductory video and exhibition in the visitor centre.

website

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[Eleanor]

The Battle of Hastings and its aftermath.

The site of the Battle of Hastings is one of the least altered of medieval battlefields. There is no visible trace of the battle and no relics have been found. Today the land is grazed much as it would have been when it belonged to the Abbey estates. The trees probably date from the C19th when the Duke and Duchess of Cleveland owned the Abbey.

In 1066 this part of Sussex was little populated, and the battle was fought on open land immediately south of the dense Wealden forest.

There are an unusually large number of near-contemporary sources giving us detailed information about the battle. All accounts of it rely on two main sources: the Bayeux Tapestry and the chronicler William of Poitiers.

William of Poitiers, a Norman soldier, and later King William’s chaplain, compiled ‘The Deeds of William, Duke of the Normans and King of England’ in about 1071. Although he didn’t fight at Battle, he clearly knew those who had.

Although both sources tell the story from the Norman viewpoint, justifying William’s claim to the English throne, they provide far more information than we have for any other medieval battle.

Harold and the English Army were on top of the hill in an east/west line along the ridge. Across the valley to the south was the Norman army. The rival armies probably numbered between 5,000-7,000 men each; very substantial forces for the time. The Norman army also included about 3000 mounted knights. Although the English army used horses for moving around, during a battle, they dismounted and fought on foot armed with two handled battle axes.

The English line probably spread for about half a mile forming a ‘shield wall’. This formation was considered almost impervious to cavalry, but was cramped leaving little room for manoeuvre. The plan was for the English to stand firm behind the shield wall, decimating the Norman forces as they tried to assault it and eventually sweeping forward to finish them off.

The Norman forces were arranged in three ranks with the archers in front, then the infantry and the mounted knights behind. Their plan was to use their archers and infantry to fracture the Engliush line and then use the cavalry to finish off the broken remnants.

The Battle of Hastings was exceptionally long by medieval standards, lasting all day, an indication of how evenly matched the rival armies were.

Harold’s forces repulsed the first Norman attacks, the English battle-axes cleaving the Norman shields and armour. William’s forces regrouped, but then some of them on the left flank, hearing a rumour that the Duke had been killed, fled in panic. Some of the English began to pursue them down the hill.

To stop panic spreading and rally his troops, William rode out in front of them with this helmet raised, so his men could see he was alive. In a successful counter-charge, his troops surrounded the pursuing English forces on a hillock and annihilated them.

For the rest of the day, the Normans repeated their assaults on the English shield wall. At least twice they pretended to flee in mid-battle, to encourage the English to break ranks and pursue them. They were partly successful, but the English line still held.

William of Poitiers recorded that the Anglo-Saxons were so tightly packed together that ‘the dead could scarcely fall and the wounded could not remove themselves from the action’. William is said to have had three horses killed beneath him.

With daylight fading, the Normans made one final effort to take the ridge and Harold was killed. There are differing accounts of how he died. One describes how an arrow struck him in the right eye, an event possibly depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry. However another early account describes Harold being hacked to death at the hands of four Norman knights, in graphic detail. Leaderless, the English forces finally gave way and fled.

After his victory, William marched on London, and he was crowned King of England on Christmas day 1066. Rebellions continued in the West Country, West Marches, Midlands, East Anglia and the North and were ruthlessly suppressed.

The Normans now ruled the country, its culture and people. William removed lands from the Saxon nobles and gave them to his supporters. All landowners had to swear an oath of loyalty to him. This was the start of centralising power with a single king and the feudal system in England.

Our system of law today is based on the Norman system. Norman French became the language spoken by the court, government and nobles and many new words entered the English language

There was a massive programme of castle building, a sign of Norman supremacy and power as well as their authority across the country.

Saxon cathedrals and churches were replaced by new Norman buildings. Many influential churchmen were members of the government and involved in matters of state.

Perhaps William’s most important legacy was Domesday Book, completed in 1086. Originally designed as an audit of England on which to base taxation, nothing like it has ever been completed either before or since William. It is a complete record of the country which is still used by historians today.

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[Eleanor]

History of Battle Abbey

Following his victory at the Battle of Hastings, William founded a great abbey on the site of the battlefield to honour the dead and as an act of atonement for the bloodshed. Despite the unsuitable location on top of a narrow, waterless ridge and objections from the first monks, William insisted that the high altar of the abbey church be placed to mark where Harold had been killed. Not only was it a highly visible symbol of the power and authority of the Norman rulers , it also encouraged the settlement of a previously underpopulated area.

The Chronicle of Battle Abbey states that the Conqueror resolved that the founding community should be composed of 60 monks, with the intention this would increase to 140, although it is not known if it ever reached this figure.

William secured the future of the Abbey with generous gifts and endowments and it became the 15th wealthiest religious house in the country. Battle Abbey had a number of important privileges. It was exempt from visitation by the local bishop (the bishop of Chichester), and only the archbishop of Canterbury could intervene in the internal running of the monastery. The abbots of Battle sat in the House of Lords and played a part in affairs of state.

For the first few years the monks lived in temporary wooden buildings while the site was levelled and building the church begun. The choir was sufficiently complete to be consecrated in 1076.

William died in 1086 before the abbey church was completed in 1094. It was consecrated in 1096 in the presence of William II, the Archbishop of Canterbury, seven other bishops and many nobles and courtiers.

The rest of the monastic buildings then followed.

The Precinct wall was built between 1107-24 to give privacy and seclusion as well as a protection against robbers and riots.

There was a major rebuilding programme in the C13th when the abbey church was enlarged and extended eastwards in the latest architectural style and possibly inspired by the new abbey of Westminster built by Henry III.

The sloping ground allowed the builders to include a crypt under the east end.

The cloisters and other buildings were rebuilt.

The outbreak of the Hundred Years War in 1337, resulted in French raids along the English coast. The precinct walls were strengthened and a wall walk was added.

The gatehouse was replaced with defensive features.

The Black Death of 1348–9 halved the population of the town and reduced the monastic community from 52 to 34 monks. This affected rental income and the profitability of its agricultural estates.

By the start of the C15th, revenues had revived sufficiently to allow extensive alterations and additions to the Abbot’s lodgings. This included a great hall that could be used to entertain important visitors. The open arches of the cloister walls were glazed and the fireplaces in the dormitory probably also date from then.

Henry VIII dissolved all monasteries, priories, convents and friaries between 1536-41, seizing their wealth for the royal coffers and and disposing of their assets.

Battle Abbey was the last Abbey to be dissolved in Sussex. The abbey’s annual income was assessed at £880 and its plate was valued at over £300 . The abbot and the 18 remaining monks surrendered to the king’s officials in May 1538. They held their last service in the abbey church and were provided with pensions.

Henry VIII gave the abbey and much of its land to his close friend and Master of the Horse, Sir Anthony Browne. Sir Anthony retained the gatehouse as the formal entrance, and took over the Abbot’s lodgings as his formal residence, converting it into a substantial and comfortable home.The abbey church, chapter house, refectory and cloister walk were demolished and used for building stone. He built the town courthouse to the east of the gatehouse and this continued in use until the C18th.

By the C17th, the Browne family were no longer living at Battle and the abbot’s hall was apparently being used as a barn. The estate was sold to Sir Thomas Webster a rich merchant in 1721. He repaired the abbot's hall.

The drawing below is a view of the Abbey in 1737, before the monastic guest house (the tall building on the right) was demolished.

His son demolished the monastic guest house apart from the two towers and the undercrofts along with much of the precinct wall to the south.

His grandson ran up huge gambling debts and the buildings were virtually derelict at the time of his death. His son began to restore the estate, building a new kitchen and service wing as well as the dairy and ice house for his new wife. The gardens were laid out and a pond dug out to provide ice for the ice house.

The increasing cost of restoration along with gambling losses, led to mounting debts and land was sold off in an attempt to pay them. The estate was put up for sale in 1857 and was bought by the Duke and Duchess of Cleveland. They poured money into the estate, modernising the abbot’s hall and adding a library wing. Many distinguished guests visited including Benjamin Disraeli, the explorer HM Stanley and Lord Kitchener.

The gardens and parkland were transformed. The Duchess of Cleveland laid out walled garden containing apples, pears, mulberries almonds and figs to provide food for the family and servants. She also used it as a private retreat. (This has now been replanted with local varieties of apples a mulberry and quinces along with beehive. )

Following the death of the Duke and Duchess, the estate was again put up for sale and to the delight of the locals, was bought back by the Webster family in 1901. The abbey buildings and remaining cloisters were leased to Battle Abbey School in 1922. A fire swept through the buildings in 1931 causing serious damage and they were carefully rebuilt and restored.The school is still there today.

The estate was put up for sale again in 1976 and is now in the care of English Heritage.

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[Eleanor]

Visiting Battle Abbey

Little remains of the Abbey apart from the precinct wall, gatehouse, undercroft, east range of buildings, and the abbot’s lodgings which are now part of Battle School.

The Abbey is still entered through the Great Gatehouse off Abbey Green.

This was built for show as well as defence. All traffic to the abbey entered through here, with a large passageway for carts and a smaller side passage for those on foot. It had a porter’s lodge as well as accommodation for abbey officials and important visitors, reached by stairs in the corner turrets. Abbey tenants would come to pay their rents here. In the C16th the gatehouse was extended to provide a courthouse. it now houses the ticket office and shop.

The rooms on the first and second floors have displays about the abbey. Immediately above the gateway was the great chamber with smaller rooms off. The magnificent stone fire hood has been reconstructed.

The room contains an exchequer Exchange table where the Abbey treasurer would collect and negotiate rent from the tenants as well as buying goods from them. The markings on the table acted a bit like an abacus and enabled the treasurer to count and do sums.

Against the wall is a monastic chest for storage of valuables and documents. There were three different locks with three senior officials holding a key. All three had to be present to open the chest.

In the window is a modern stained glass with the arms of Battle Abbey.

There are good views from the roof of the gatehouse over the town, Abbey School, and surrounding countryside.

The gatehouse led into the outer court which contained the barns, storehouses and workshops. The new Visitor's Centre is here with the cafe , and an exhibition about the battle with a short audio visual.

This leads to the Terrace walk which overlooks the battlefield and was created by the Duke and Duchess of Cleveland and runs in front of the buttressed wall of the monastic guest range. This was an impressive building but was demolished in the mid C18th, leaving only the end towers and the undercrofts.

There were eight vaulted undercrofts which were used for storage. Originally they were separate from each other but interlinking doorways were added later.

The now roofless East Range still standing to its original height, dates from the C13th rebuild when the community living quarters were improved. It contained the novices’ chamber, common room and dormitories above. Beyond it was the latrine block with the remains of the arched south wall.

The latrine block was originally had two floors which could be reached directly from the dormitory. The hilltop position led to problems in ensuring a supply of running water and it is thought the latrine drain had to be cleaned out periodically like a cess pit. Now all that remains are the foundations and low walls.

After the Dissolution, the east range was used as stables and a barn, explaining why it survives in such good condition. The roof collapsed in the C18th.

The novices’ chamber is to the south and is a splendid vaulted ground floor room. Novices were instructed here by the novice master and it functioned as a day room used for writing. A corner staircase led to the latrine block. The remains of a fireplace suggest it may also have been used as a warming room in winter when a fire was allowed.

Stairs at the end of the Novices’ Chamber lead to a passageway which was the main route between the cloister and the site of the long demolished monk’s infirmary.To the north of the passage is another splendid vaulted room with a double row of columns which functioned as a common room. The only form of heating in winter seems to have been charcoal brasiers.

This had a doorway out to the cloisters and there would have been an external flight of stairs up to the dormitory above.

The Dormitory extended the length of the east range and was lit by long narrow lancet windows which would have had wooden shutters over their lower half. Beds would have been arranged along the walls. In the C15th small fireplaces were added when the dormitory was divided into individual cubicles that could be used as study cells.

Beyond the dormitory and common room was the small inner parlour, one of the few rooms monks were allowed to talk. Now all that remains are the foundations.

Beyond are the foundations of the Chapter House. Monks met here everyday to to discuss monastery business and listen to a chapter of the Rule of St Benedict. Important members of the monastic community were buried in the chapter house and six graves have been found.

Beyond the chapter house are the foundations of the Abbey Church with the precinct wall beyond and the parish church of St Mary outside them.

A carved stone marks the spot where Harold was killed.

The standing memorial was placed here in 1903 by the founding members of the Le Souvenir Normand to commemorate the Battle of Hastings and to ‘dispel the cloud which hovered over relations with France’. The translation reads “On the historic field of Senlac where fell the brave Harold the Saxon, 837 years after the battle which gave Great Britain to Normandy, the Souvenir Normand, coming from the banks of the Seine, has joyously proclaimed the peace of these sister nations”. The inscription includes the traditional battle cry of the Normans ‘May God be our aid’ .

At the far end of the abbey foundations are the remains of the Crypt.

A gravelled walkway and the remains of the cloister arches against the outer wall of the West Range, is all that remains remains of the cloisters. The West Range was originally the Abbot's Hall.

To the south are the scant remains of the refectory. These buildings now form part of Battle School.

Beyond the foundations of the church is the C19th Ice house and Dairy, which was designed to be decorative as well as functional, as well as the walled garden of the Duchess of Cleveland.

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[Eleanor]

The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Battle - some history

The church stands outside the Abbey precinct and is surrounded by its graveyard. It is an attractive stone building with square tower at the west end, tall nave with side aisles and small chancel to the east.

Battle Abbey church was consecrated in 1095. A town grew up around Battle Abbey. Initially the population would have shared the Abbey church for worship. As the local population grew, this eventually became too disruptive and interfered with the Abbey’s religious life. The Abbot petitioned the King to build a separate church outside the Abbey walls to serve the growing town around it. The abbey did its best to maintain close control of the parish church and appointing a priest.

Building began on a small church around 1102. The church was granted its own priest and Dean in 1115 and became the parish church. Little remains of this early work apart from the the round arch between the chancel and St Catherine’s Chapel on the south side.

Building on the nave started around 1200 extending westwards and was completed about 1230. The chancel was then rebuilt and extended. The south aisle was extended and rebuilt in the C14th, followed by the north aisle in the C15th, when the west tower was added. The nave walls would have been covered with wall paintings

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII, the right to recommend clergy passed to Sir Anthony Browne, the new Lord of the Manor who is buried with his wife in a splendid alabaster tomb. Wall paintings were covered up, stained glass destroyed, and statues and the rood screen removed.

The picture taken from this website shows what the inside of the church looked like in 1845 when the wall paintings wer uncovered.

The church was restored in the mid C19th apart from tower. The gallery and box pews were removed and the east window replaced by three lancet windows. Roofs were replaced apart from the nave roof where iron ties replaced the wooden tie beams. The chancel arch was rebuilt and widened. This is now aligned to the chancel but offset to the nave. The wall paintings on the south wall and chancel arch were destroyed and lost.

Although the church is in the Diocese of Chichester, it is unusual as it is a Royal Peculiar Church. As a Royal foundation, the abbey and the area within a league of its high altar were exempt from the control of church and its bishops. This included St Mary’s Church. The church retained its Royal Peculiar status after the Dissolution of Battle Abbey and appoints a dean as minister. It is subject to the direct jurisdiction of the monarch and is not under the authority of a bishop and until 1846, the Bishop could only enter the church with the permission of the Dean.

The church is open daily although there is a Thursday morning communion service.

website

history of the church

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[Eleanor]

The Church of St Mary the Virgin cont...

Entry is through the west door. The offset chancel arch designed to line up centrally to the chancel is very obvious A colonnade of round or hexagonal pillars divides the nave from the side aisles. Walls are whitewashed although there are remains of wall paintings on the top of the north wall between the clerestory windows.

The wall paintings date from around 1300 and may have been painted under the supervision of the Abbey. They were covered up after the Reformation and were only rediscovered in1845 when they were again covered with whitewash until 1867 when they were partially restored. They would originally have extended over the chancel arch and along the south wall, but these were destroyed when the chancel arch was rebuilt and the church restored.

The paintings depict the life of the C4th century martyred saint, Margaret of Antioch, from her birth, being handed over to her Christian nurse, the approach of the Roman provost Olybrius and her subsequent tortures, and finally her execution and burial with her soul being received into Heaven.
Each scene is represented as a separate picture, a bit like a comic script and are arranged in two tiers. They are designed to be read from right to left along the top tier and then back along the bottom tier. There are paintings of other unidentified figures on the window alcoves.

The square Norman font is at the back of the church near the display case with the Battle tapestry. The painted and gilded cover is C15th.

To the right of the chancel is St Catherine’s Chapel which is reserved for private prayer.

There is a simple chancel with brass memorials on the floor. The carved wood reredos features shields with emblems of Christ’s Passion. The east window has images of St Martin, the Madonna and Child and St Benedict.

The splendid tomb of Sir Anthony Browne and his wife Alys is between the chancel and the Lady Chapel. Sir Anthony was a knight of the Garter and Henry VIII’s Master of the Horse. He was gifted Battle Abbey after the Dissolution of the Abbey and became Lord of the Manor of Battle. It is a splendid chest tomb with coats of arms around the base. Above is the effigy of Sir Anthony in armour next to his wife in a red gown and blue cloak.

Beyond is the Lady Chapel, which was used as a schoolroom in the C17th. It has a lovely modern glass window in the north wall representing Christian Worship across the world as reflected in the Te Deum.

Windows in the north aisle have fragments of C15th glass.

On the south wall is the wonderful Senlac window installed in 1984 to commemorate the dead of the Battle of Hastings. On the left is Duke Norman in full battle armour, facing Harold Godwinson on the right who had been crowned king after the death of Edward the Confessor. The background shows scenes from the Bayeux tapestry.

In a display case at the back of the church is the Battle tapestry, a community project devised during the 950 anniversary of the Battle of Hastings and depicting how the town might have developed after the Battle of Hastings until the founding of the church in 1115. The design is based on that of the Bayeux Tapestry with central panel telling the story and borders with decoration and words. Similar colours and stitches are used.

in the first scene, Harold’s body is taken for burial. The second scene shows the re-coronation of William and Matilda in Winchester in 1070 after brutally subduing Saxons in the north of England. William then agrees to build an abbey on the site of the battle and Harold’s death. A church is built on top of the hill and its first abbot installed.

Master craftsmen arrive to complete the abbey. The lower border depicts the death of William in Rouen in 1087.

The abbey is consecrated in 1095in the presence of William II, many earls and knights as well as several bishops. A thriving town grows up around the abbey and a parish church is built for the townsfolk.