In St. Mary's Chruchyard

Outside the church, is a cemetery that reflects the surrounding community.

St. Mary's Church, Battle

The Benedictines built the church and abbey on the site of the battlefield next door. In around 1115, Abbot Ralph built this church to serve the people of the community that had grown up around the abbey.

Abbey Interior and Battle Commemoration

Underneath the main floor of the dormitory is the novice's chamber. However, since there were few novices here, this was likely used as a common room. The vaulting of the ceiling is quite wonderful. At the far end is a the only fireplace on this floor so this would have been at least a little warmer than some other places.

The doors are finely arched and the stairs are evenly laid giving this accessway a pretty modern look.

The large windows made this room, even on the bottom floor, quite light and habitable.

Just north of the dormitory stood the church. It is now gone... only the outline of the foundation exists. I was not able to get a photo of this that would make any sense. This is unfortunate, for in 1070 when the church was originally built the altar was placed at the spot where Harold fell.

A few yards from the location of the church stands a monument to the world changing event that happened here in 1066. The inscription on the monument translates as:

Translated as - God be with us, In the historic field of Senlac, where brave Harold the Saxon fell, 837 years after the battle that gave Britain the Norman Law. The Norman remembrance, came from the Banks of the Seine to proclaim with joy the peace of the Sisters of Normandy. 1066 - 1903

 

The Abbey at Battle

This is the same end of the abbey you saw yesterday, just from a different direction. It is carefully buttressed and is, from this outward side, filled with openings to various larders and storages rooms.

Battle: The Abbey and the Battlefield

There are certainly older structures in England. After all, this spot as a place of significance has only existed since 1066 and the structures are hundreds of years more recent. Still, this is a place that carries such historical weight that it is hard to imagine another place that can compare based on a single day's activities.