Monday, 22 April 2013

Battle of 1066 -- Hastings

The year 1066 is a very important year in Britain.  It changed the course of English history to what we know today.  It started on the death of King Edward the Confessor and the fight for who would take his throne.  On one side is his brother in law Harald Godwinson and the other side was a distant french relative William the conqueror.  This part of history is taught in schools here, I am not sure if it is addressed in the US, but my kids know this story and we decided to take a tour of where the battle took place that decided the fate of of England.




An abbey was built here to mark the spot of the battle while there is little that remains of the original abbey it has undergone many restorations, it is still an impressive site to visit.


Every year English Heritage holds a reenactment battle to commemorate the battle in October.  We attended it several years ago and loved it.   Today we were exploring the battlefield and the abbey

I love pictures of old doors:)

The two men both had claims to the throne but it is reported that King Edward promised the throne to William and that Harold broke his oath of fealty and grabbed the throne when the king died.

As my husband is a saxon re enactor this part of history is very important to him.  We have been to see the Bayeux tapestry in France which has the complete story.

My husband was not pleased to see the wrong type of sword in the museum:(  This is a big pet peeve of his.  He almost had a heart attack when he noticed the dress up box had the wrong type of helmets for this period;)

There is a path that takes you around the battlefield.  This is very important as it plays a major part of  battle

Due to the down pour we encounter we had to abandoned the nature walk as it was too muddy and slippery.  So we walked around 


walking around the site

listening to the audio guide

William the Conqueror wanted an abbey built here to remember the fallen from the battle




The spot where Harold Godwinson died, the story goes he was hit in the eye by an arrow

One of the original walls of the abbey


I love the juxtaposition of the red UK phone booth next to the abbey walls



Another great day out, despite the rain, in England.