Friday we toured Battle Abbey, which was built on the site of the Battle of Hastings in October 1066 to atone for all the bloodshed. It was a Benedictine monastery, as most Norman abbeys were, and was expanded over the years until it was destroyed by King Henry VIII in the 1500s.
The tour included the remaining monastic buildings (sadly not including the abbey church, which was razed to the ground) and also the battlefield itself. Given the season and the early hour, we had the entire site to ourselves, and we really enjoyed the peaceful walk around the grounds and learning about the history of the battle.
We started at the Abbey Gate, which we'd admired from the outside the night before.
Funny faces adorn the upper parts of the towers
From the gate, a nice trail wrapped around the back of the abbey and passed through the battlefield itself (on the right in this photo).
Informative signs like this one told the story of the day-long battle, illustrated with drawings and snippets of the Bayeux Tapestry.
The building overlooking the battlefield is the undercroft, which had various uses over the centuries including food storage.
The monks' dormitory (left) and latrine (which was above the arches at right)
The same, seen from the side. The small door high on the left led into the latrine.
An illustration showing the monks using the potty and heading to bed.
Further up the hill were remnants from the 19th century, when the abbey was turned into a private home - a dairy (left) and an underground icehouse (right). The icehouse went very deep into the ground and stored ice gathered from the river.
At the top of the hill is the heart of the abbey. It was centered around the church, which was built over the very spot on the ridge where King Harold met his death. Nothing remains of it, but gravel paths mark its foundations.
A modern stone slab marks the spot where Harold died.
Across from the church (once connected by the cloister) is the grand Abbot's House. This now houses a school - lucky little buggers.
After the abbey we took a short walk to the Norman parish church (seen here from the abbey grounds), but it was locked.
Then we headed out of Battle for a day trip. First on the agenda was Bodiam Castle, said to be one of the most beautiful castles in England.
Well, it lived up to its reputation! It is out in the middle of the countryside and looks just like a storybook castle - complete with moat!
It was built in 1385 by a knight named Sir Edward, at the request of King Richard II. More importantly, it appears in Monty Pyton and the Holy Grail. But history doesn't matter too much with this castle - it's all about your imagination!
Sadly it was closed so we couldn't explore the inside. But we were still very, very happy with our walk around the moat on such a beautiful day.
The rest of the day's sights paled in comparison to Battle Abbey and Bodiam Castle, but there were a few interesting points. Mainly we drove a small loop and stopped at a few churches listed in my England's Thousand Best Churches book.
The best of these was Old Romney, a cute little church in scenic marshland that was once all underwater. It's endearingly crooked and watched over by sheep. Inside are pink box pews (painted because the local fishermen of the parish couldn't afford nice wood) and unusual little carvings on the font.
Nearby was New Romney, with a much bigger church that was mostly uninteresting inside but had a very cool Norman tower with carved corbels.
We picked up a snack lunch in New Romney, where we came across this excellent-sounding cheese.
Near sunset we stopped by Winchelsea, a town moved to the top of a hill in the 1300s after the original one below was destroyed by a storm. Its church is partially ruined and had some interesting modern stained glass windows donated just after WW2.
We ended our evening in Hastings, on the coast south of Battle. It has a nice pebble beach a lot like Brighton, caves where gangs of smugglers hid, and some "net houses" - tall, black buildings where the fishermen stored (and still do?) their nets.
We watched the beautiful sunset, then headed back to Battle. We had dinner at a pub recommended by our B&B hostess called The Chequers. The tiny parking lot was a nightmare, but the food was delicious and cheap. I had salmon with hollandaise sauce with mash and David had steak and scampy. We left the cameras at home for once.
Yesterday morning we checked out and drove straight to Canterbury. We had booked ahead at the Thanington Hotel for two nights, and were able to check in early at around 12:30. Our room is bigger than usual, but a bit dated and the bed slopes towards the middle. But no matter, we have free wireless internet and the location is pretty good - about 10 minutes' walk to the city.
We spent a nice slow-paced afternoon wandering the city and checking out some minor sights, including a free art museum and a pilgrim's hostel. Canterbury is more impressive than I expected - tons of great shops and restaurants as well as atmospheric medieval streets and lots of good religious sights. We visited the cathedral today and it was fantastic. But the weather has unfortunately been awful - very grey with a freezing cold wind! More details in the next post.
