The Battle Site?
I took a very old fashioned "slice" through the Earth from Telham Hill fort (53' 53.90"N 31' 30.20"E) to the Netherfield Church area (56' 29.35"N 26' 53.11"E), a distance of about 7.2 km, and plotted the result. It revealed a very interesting profile. We start off at 141 m a.s.l and descend to 100 m at the 1 km mark before rising again to 108 m after a further 400 m. So from 1.4 km from the hill fort to 2.6 km the ground descends from 108 m to 55 m. Then the ground rises to 64 m at about 2.9 km before dipping back down to 53 m at 3.2 km. The ground then rises to 103 m in 600 m and this is the summit of Caldbec Hill. After the summit of Caldbec Hill, the ground descends to 41 m a.s.l at 4.6 km from the hill fort. From here the ground rises to 109 m at a distance of 5.9 km before dipping slightly to 103 m after a further 500 m. From this point until the Netherfield end of the cross section the ground rises to 144 m and 7.2 km from the fort on Telham hill.
There are two slight rises in the profile before Caldbec Hill is reached. the first occurs at 1.4 km from the hill fort and the second is at the base of Caldbec Hill in the area of the railway line and Norman Close. The first rise has an additional slope at right angle to the cross section and I think unsuitable as a battle site. The second looks more promising in that the terrain looks favourable but this area has the main London to Hastings railway line cutting though it and a modern development on its south facing slope. So if the battle took place here then hopefully someone would have noticed all the battle debris and done something about it.
According to research by Nick Austin, all manors were "wasted" in the area but how did the monks at Senlec Ridge get the money to build such a magnificent Abbey? And didn't the late Mick Aston of Time Team fame suggest that the Doomsday Book was not accurate when it came to ecclesiastical manors? I think that the manors within one and a half miles of the Abbey site were not so damaged thus the manors were able to contribute to the building works in labour, material and money.
According to research by Nick Austin, all manors were "wasted" in the area but how did the monks at Senlec Ridge get the money to build such a magnificent Abbey? And didn't the late Mick Aston of Time Team fame suggest that the Doomsday Book was not accurate when it came to ecclesiastical manors? I think that the manors within one and a half miles of the Abbey site were not so damaged thus the manors were able to contribute to the building works in labour, material and money.
Since Time Team found no evidence of fighting on either Senlec Ridge or Caldbec Hill, one has to assume that Caldbec Hill is not the site of the English camp the night before the battle as there are no further suitable battle sites between the Normans on Telham Hill and Caldbec Hill.
I also want to dismiss my chosen camp site at Darwell Wood for the site of the battle. Although it's a good lookout position, given the battle didn't start until around 9, I would have thought Harold would have wanted to ensure William actually fought him on ground that was unsuitable for William's cavalry. This means that there has to be some very wet ground in the vicinity of the battlefield.
My preferred site for the battle is the end of the slice taken above at 56' 29.35"N 26' 53.11"E. This area seems to be on the old London Road, Also it is situated on the end of a east- west ridge which makes sense of Williams decision to split his force into three. The site is more or less undeveloped so there has been not so many unreported finds. A nearby spring could well have supplied the wet ground and remember hadn't there been a big storm within the last 3 weeks? The site also has a steep incline and a not so steep incline to take account of the many different reports we have of the battle.
Not so far from this site ( to the Northeast) lies an odd collection of place names. We have Crowhurst Farm and Crowhurst Wood, Goldspur and Burnthouse Woods. Then even further northeast we have Battle Wood and Duke's Wood. A kilometre south of Battle Wood there is Archer Wood. Slightly to the north of Battle Wood we have the manor of Mountfield. Also to the west of Mountfield we have the closest earthwork ( for the reported last stand). I haven't done any research into these names but I suspect that they are 18th or 19th century romantic ideas.
Well, that's the end of my "Thoughts on the 1066 Battle" blog. I will continue my research into the place names above to see if there is any significance in them but I doubt there will be but I'll let you know.
P.S If I can get this thing to play I will post a picture or two.
I also want to dismiss my chosen camp site at Darwell Wood for the site of the battle. Although it's a good lookout position, given the battle didn't start until around 9, I would have thought Harold would have wanted to ensure William actually fought him on ground that was unsuitable for William's cavalry. This means that there has to be some very wet ground in the vicinity of the battlefield.
My preferred site for the battle is the end of the slice taken above at 56' 29.35"N 26' 53.11"E. This area seems to be on the old London Road, Also it is situated on the end of a east- west ridge which makes sense of Williams decision to split his force into three. The site is more or less undeveloped so there has been not so many unreported finds. A nearby spring could well have supplied the wet ground and remember hadn't there been a big storm within the last 3 weeks? The site also has a steep incline and a not so steep incline to take account of the many different reports we have of the battle.
Not so far from this site ( to the Northeast) lies an odd collection of place names. We have Crowhurst Farm and Crowhurst Wood, Goldspur and Burnthouse Woods. Then even further northeast we have Battle Wood and Duke's Wood. A kilometre south of Battle Wood there is Archer Wood. Slightly to the north of Battle Wood we have the manor of Mountfield. Also to the west of Mountfield we have the closest earthwork ( for the reported last stand). I haven't done any research into these names but I suspect that they are 18th or 19th century romantic ideas.
Well, that's the end of my "Thoughts on the 1066 Battle" blog. I will continue my research into the place names above to see if there is any significance in them but I doubt there will be but I'll let you know.
P.S If I can get this thing to play I will post a picture or two.
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