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"In 1066, William the Conqueror's invading army from Normandy landed on the south coast, aiming to take Winchester and London. Hearing that King Harold and his army were camped just inland from Hastings, William confronted them. He won the battle after Harold was mortally wounded by an arrow in his eye. It was the last successful invasion of England.(181)"
Since 1066 is one of those major dates in history, we decided to see where the Battle of Hastings was fought. We only had 45 minutes until they closed, but it was enough time. We took a quick walk around the battle field, which took about 25 minutes. It has been left as just a field; the only indications of the modern are a few signs describing the story of the battle and a few rescue bouys at a small pond. Normally at battle sites it's easy to get overwhelmed with what men experienced there, but not this time. First, we were a bit rushed. But more detracting was some band playing up at the adjacent abbey; it's hard to imagine a battle scene with "Dancing Queen" and various hits by Queen floating over the countryside. We did learn that the battle was between two armies of about 7,000 men each; that causes pause for consideration since 14,000 seems like a small number to be involved in one of the most famous battles in the Western world.
We did not visit the town of Battle itself.

For the final day of our trip, click here.