July 26 - Battle and London

We were up early this morning for our final home-cooked breakfast of the trip and to pack the car one last time for the trip to London. On the way to the capital we stopped in Battle to tour Battle Abbey and Battlefield, site of the famous Battle of Hastings.

It was on this field that, on the 14th of November 1066, William the Conqueror defeated King Harold, ending the Anglo-Saxon period and ushering in the Norman one. To many historians, this battle was the beginning of English history.

Our visit started by following an audio guide tour around the perimeter of the battlefield, which is surprisingly small. This picture is taken from where William's Normans stood before the battle, looking up the hill towards Harold and the Saxons.

To commemorate the battle and his victory, King William I established a Benedictine abbey on the site; Battle Abbey would go on to become one of the wealthiest monastic houses in the country. After the dissolution, the abbey fell into the hands of Sir Anthony Browne who demolished most of it to make way for a manor house, so very little remains.

This stone marks the place where the High Altar of the abbey church once stood. Legend has it that it was on this exact spot that King Harold died during the battle.

 

The only remaining building is the old dormitory, pictured here, where the most senior monks slept.

The highlight of the ruins was the collection of rooms below the dormitory, all of which are astonishingly well-preserved in comparison to the rest of the abbey.

We ended our visit with a lunch onsite before continuing the drive to Heathrow to return the Ford S-Max, two-and-a-half weeks and over one thousand miles later. We caught a bus from the airport which took us directly to our hotel, the Crowne Plaza Kensington, and were there by early evening. The hotel's in an amazing location, right across the street from the Gloucester Road tube stop and within walking distance of Hyde Park, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Kensington Palace, and Royal Albert Hall.

We had dinner at the hotel, and I ended the day with a short walk around Kensington. After being here for just a few hours I already love the city, and can't wait to begin exploring tomorrow.

GWV