Motorhome touring around West and East Sussex

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Day four

In the footsteps of history – a humbling experience

When you strip away the vegetation, the housing, the layers of roads and infrastructure, you eventually come down to the geomorphology; the rivers and their valleys, the topography of hills and slopes. Topography can be everything in a battle!

And so, I stand at the bottom of Senlac Hill and try to imagine it stripped of ponds and trees, Abbey and terraces. I seek out the dips where marshes would have been and envisage what the hill top afore me would have been like backed by thick coppices of native British woodlands a thousand years ago.

One-year 1066, three contenders for the English Crown. All distant cousins connected through genealogy to one Queen, Emma of Normandy. Mother of Edward the Confessor, daughter of the Duke Richard of Normandy, great aunt to a Norman who wants to be king and her lineage tracing back to the great Scandinavian royal families.

14^th October 1066. A battlefield selected by an Anglo-Saxon king, once held hostage by his enemy, who now waits below. Our Anglo-Saxon King’s serried ranks of housecarls and fyrd densely packed together forming an impenetrable shield wall. Exhausted troops, who days before, walked hundreds of miles south after a fierce battle against a Norwegian contender for the English throne.

At the foot of the hill, that enemy, a Norman Duke, angered and slighted by a broken promise.

Horses, helmets, mail, armour, shields, long swords, axes, crossbows and long bows, common equipment for both armies. A shortage of archers for the Anglo-Saxon king, they were left behind on his rapid march south. The consequence? A subsequent shortage of arrows for his enemy’s archers, who were so used to reclaiming arrows from their dead, fallen enemies during battle.

But this Norman has his secret weapon, two thousand cavalries; knights and esquires, all highly trained.

It is a head on meeting of two powerful armies with differing military tactics and cultures. Most battles at this historical time were over within an hour but not on this occasion. A nine-hour battle ensues where no quarter is given and no prisoners taken. It is a fight to the death, literally. An army who stubbornly refuse to move; another forced between marshes to fight uphill, their stocky horses unable to build up sufficient speed to make a difference.

And then there is the whole of English history, turning on two main events. A French Duke who rallies his fleeing troops by lifting his helmet to show that he is alive. An English king unable to stop his troops from breaking ranks and giving chase.

When William feigns the last retreat and then encircles the chasing housecarls, slaughtering them all, the game is over. And the death of the English King? “Arrow in the eye” say some. No, “gored by a spear” say others. “Hunted down by a death squad of the four best Norman Knights”. “Nah, his leg was chopped off”. “Rubbish, they disembowled him”. The uncertainty of historical records and narratives!

History seems unsure but what is clear, Harold falls and the battle is over. Several thousand dead, the hill slopes littered with bodies and slippery with mud and blood.

The end of Anglo-Saxon England. The imposition of a new cohesive ruling class bounded by ties of feudal loyalty. More power in Royal hands and the fledgling start of common law. The establishment of a great Benedictine Monastery by the guilt-ridden victor, soon to become one of the richest monastic houses in the land, until another cash strapped King changes religion and dissolves all that has gone before.

History is humbling. To walk in the footsteps of those who fought for their country and crown even more so. To stand at the place where an English Monarch fell……. heart stopping. Time stands still.

After wandering the astonishing abbey ruins and strolling the quaint high street in Battle, we adjourn to our campsite for the night, Red Orchard on the B2204 just north of Catsfield.

Sheltered by trees we enjoy stunning views across serried rows of apple trees, some in blossom; they gently slope down to the valley lakes and ponds. A mere two miles away, Battle Abbey emerges above the woodlands that drape over Senlac Hill. Our site is a gently sloping grass pitch with EHU. Our welcome is warm. Tranquil rurality just slightly spoilt by the rush hour traffic on the road behind us. The views are stunning. Basic but clean toilet facilities and if you ask nicely you might be able to go feed the animals and see the model railways.

A remarkable day. Both of us have taught the Norman Conquest so many times over the years. It is humbling to walk the fields and Abbey.

Car parking is free as is entry if you are a member of English heritage. The car parking is tight but there is an overflow car park beyond which although sloping does have some areas where motorhomes can get in but get there early.