This website is about what I call the great big Battle of hastings Balls up.
They seek him here they seek him there but not as much as an arrowhead has been found anywhere.
Conclusion: The battle wasn’t in Battle!
Errr, not exactly, we have probably the biggest piece of archaeology imaginable right in front of our faces.
The Abbey.
Founded, so the charter says, to commemorate the Victory by marking the spot where Harold died.
So, if nothing has been found where we all ‘thought’ the battle took place and no-one has any real clue where or how it might have happened, maybe the problem isn’t the abbey or the ground but how we think about them.
Where in the sources does it say the battle was this giant mass of men spread across a hillside.
Maybe we have inherited assumptions that have been adopted as truth, but the evidence does not back up those assumptions.
So perhaps we should reframe things.
What if we start calling the abbey what it really is: The last retreat position of the English.
and since we know there is no evidence to the south, we are left with West, North and East.
Of these The least likely are West and North, because we know the Normans came from the direction of Hastings and The English were already in the viscinity. If these two armies face off to the North or West how can it be possible for Harold to retreat to a position that is effectively behind the Normans.
No my friend, East is where we should look. and co-incidentally this is also where the English Heritage/Time Team study in 2013 suggested.
And if we look, there is a Hill, there is a Valley, even if the size of the ground isn’t what we expect how is that any different to any other late Saxon battle?
So now we are left with some uncomfortable questions, How and why did they get into these positions, and does this terrain help to explain all the strange anomolies in the historical accounts.
Let’s find out shall we?