|
Battle
|
|
|
The town of
BATTLE
- a ten-minute train ride from Hastings - occupies the site of the most famous land battle in British history. Here, on October 14, 1066, the invading Normans overcame the Anglo-Saxon army of King Harold, who was killed not by an arrow through the eye - a myth resulting from the misinterpretation of the Bayeux Tapestry - but from a workaday clubbing about the head. Before the battle took place, William vowed that, should he win the engagement, he would build a religious foundation on the very spot of Harold's slaying to atone for the bloodshed and, true to his word,
Battle Abbey
(daily: April-Sept 10am-6pm; Oct 10am-5pm; Nov-March 10am-4pm; A?4.30; EH) was built four years later and subsequently occupied by a fraternity of Benedictines. The magnificent structure, though partially destroyed in the Dissolution and much rebuilt and revised over the centuries, still dominates the town with the huge gatehouse, added in 1338, now containing a good audio-visual exhibition on the battle. You can wander through the ruins of the abbey to the spot where Harold was clubbed - the site of the high altar of William's abbey, now marked by a memorial stone.
Though nothing can match the resonance of the abbey, the rest of the town is worth a stroll. At the far end of the High Street, is the fourteenth-century Almonry (Mon-Sat 10am-4.30pm; A?1) - the present town hall - which contains a miniature model of Battle and the oldest Guy Fawkes in the country. Every year, on the Saturday nearest to November 5, this 300-year-old effigy is paraded along the High Street at the head of a torch-lit procession culminating in a huge bonfire in front of the abbey gates; similar celebrations occur in Lewes.
The
tourist office
is at 88 High St (June-Sept Mon-Sat 9.30am-5.30pm, Sun 9.30am-5.30pm; Oct-May closed Sun; tel 01424/773721,
). Battle's
accommodation
tends to be agreeable but expensive - a couple of less pricey
B&Bs
are
Abbey View
, Caldbec Hill (tel 01424/775513; A?60-70), only two minutes' walk from town down Mount St, and the en-suite rooms above the
Gateway CafAŠ
, 78 High St (tel 01424/772856; A?40-50). Town-centre
pubs
serving decent food include the
Old King's Head
on Mount Street, the
1066
at 12 High St - both of which serve real ales - and the
Chequers Inn
at Lower Lake, on the High Street. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
|
United Kingdom,
|