Battle - Britain's Most Famous Battlefield

About trip

Distance: 5 miles, Minnimum Time: 2hrs 30mins, Difficulty: Moderate, Description: If one date from England’s glorious past stands out more than any other, it is surely 1066. One of the most important and significant events of the last millennium, the Battle of Hastings represents a defining moment in British history. Bloody Battle. Visit the battlefield and you can still sense something of that momentous day when William, Duke of Normandy, defeated Harold and his Saxon army and became William the Conqueror of England. See the spot where Harold is believed to have fallen and, by exercising a little imagination, you can picture the bloody events that led to his defeat. William began by occupying a position on a hill about 400yds (365m) to the south of the English army, massed on a higher hilltop. Harold and his men fortified their formidable position and following abortive uphill charges on the English shield-wall, the Normans withdrew, unable to breach the defences. It looked for a time as if victory was within Harold’s grasp until William rallied his men and executed two successful strategies. One was to instruct his bowmen to shoot their arrows indiscriminately into the air, though William had no idea that one of them would hit Harold in the eye, fatally wounding him. William’s other plan was to create the impression that his armies were fleeing the battlefield. Sensing victory, the English gave chase but this was to be their downfall. The Normans rounded on them and won the battle. William marched victoriously to London where, on Christmas Day, in Westminster Abbey, he was duly crowned King of England. William’s Promise. Before the Battle of Hastings, William vowed that if God gave him victory that day, he would build an abbey on the site of the battle at Senlac Field. This he did, with the high altar set up on the spot where Harold died. Little of the church remains today. The abbey, thought to have been completed before William died, was significantly enlarged and improved over the years that followed. However, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, much of it was converted into a private house by Sir Anthony Browne, Henry VIII’s Master of Horse. Today, Battle Abbey is in the care of English Heritage and an immensely popular tourist attraction. This attractive walk begins at Battle Abbey in the centre of picturesque Battle, which grew up around the abbey, so allow time before or after the walk to visit the abbey itself and its historic battlefield. What to look out for: Fore Wood (RSPB Nature Reserve) is home to dragonflies, damselflies, nuthatches, treecreepers and woodpeckers, with rare mosses and ferns thriving in the shaded valleys. Where to eat and drink: There are several pubs, restaurants and tea rooms in Battle, including the 15th-century Kings Head, the Pilgrims Rest tea room and the Almonry Coffee Shop. The Queens Head at Sedlescombe offers snacks, and the Clock House restaurant and tea room opposite serves Sussex cream teas. Directions: Turn left out of the car park and follow the track to a gate. Keep left along the bridleway beside woodland, the path swinging left to a fingerpost and junction of paths. Bear off left with the 1066 Bexhill Walk marker and walk down the fieldedge and through two gates. Join a track and keep ahead, soon to cross a drive via stiles, and follow the fenced path along the fieldedge high above the road to a stile. Cross the B2095 (take care - dangerous bend), walk along Telham Lane and take the Private Road right towards Peppering Eye Farm. Keep to the metalled drive for 0.5 mile (0.8km), passing Stumblet’s Barn and crossing a stream to ascend to a junction of paths by Powdermill Cottage. Turn left along a track through the trees, drop downhill and bear off left with the waymarker across the centre of a field to cross a footbridge and enter Fore Wood (RSPB Nature Reserve). Bear right and follow the yellow-arrowed route through the edge of the wood, ignoring paths left and right, turning right where the path curves left at a bench. Go left at the fingerpost, cross a footbridge and follow the path right through scrub, parallel with the stream. On reaching an open field, keep left around the field-edge, pass a pond and gently climb along a defined path along the top edge of a field. The path becomes a track through trees, passing another larger pond, then soon emerges into a field, keeping ahead along the field-edge to a junction of tracks. Bear left, then immediately right at a fork, curving left around a pond to reach a waymarker close to pheasant pens. Turn sharp right up the grassy bank, soon enter woodland and continue to a stile and footbridge. Turn left to another stile, then right along the field-edge passing a pond. Head across the field, pass beneath power cables and through a gate. Bear diagonally right downhill across the field to a gate and track. Just before some barns, climb the stile on the right to follow the arrowed path around Millers Farm to reach a gate. Rejoin the track and follow it out to a road. Cross the road, pass beside a gate and follow the path through Powdermill Wood. Cross the top end of Farthing Pond, bear sharp right and immediately fork off left, uphill along a narrow path through coppice woodland to a stile. Cross the field aiming to the right of a cottage to reach a stile. Turn right along a track, go through a gate and follow the 1066 Walk uphill through a field and soon retrace your outward route back to the car park.