[BGB] hastings -

[PaulByzan at aol.com]

Yeah, Mike that's what I thought too when I hiked the battlefield 12 years  
ago.  Then I figured that given the close formations the Saxons (even the  
Norman cavalry) drew up in with the limited numbers of troops it may even have  
been a bit roomy.  And the Abbey wasn't there at the time.  Good time,  even if 
I couldn't figure out how to open the train door at Hastings station and  had 
to ride to the next one and go back.  Whoever heard of a train door  handle 
only on the outside? :-)
 
Paul G
 
 
In a message dated 1/9/2008 8:39:57 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
michael.cartine at thomson.com writes:

 
 
it was a good trip, worth spending  a day there.  what's amazing to me is the 
field, the most important in  all of england's history, where 5,000  
frenchmen on horseback and 5,000 englishmen with spears and shields spent all  day 
trying to kill each other, is so tiny.  only about 2 soccer pitches  total (my 
unpracticed guesstimate), including the space from where the  Normans  started 
and where they retreated back to. 
There’s a small museum, the field  itself (british national trust sites give 
neat audio guides on their sites,  which explained the hastings field), and 
the abbey, which is a  ruined church William built to atone for the battle  
itself. 
As for the field, note it’s  appearance is a little changed and presumably 
did not have the extra trees  spotted around or the ditch or tiering present  
now. 
Most of the photos were taken from  where the Normans started from or 
retreated to (not  very far apart in either instance – literally a matter of  paces). 
   The charge would have been up to the anglo line on  top of the hill, where 
the present day abbey now  stands. 
Mike  cartine

 
 
 
 
 
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