Quick Guide - The Sedlescombe battlefield

We propose that the Battle of Hastings was fought at Hurst Lane near Sedlescombe, some three miles northeast of the traditional location at Battle Abbey. Here we present three reasons to think we are right. The second and third are what we refer to as the 'battlefield fingerprints', which uniquely match Hurst Lane.

Perfect match for the battlefield clues in the contemporary accounts

Battlefield clues in the contemporary accounts→

We found 41 battlefield clues in the contemporary accounts - linked above - including 20 that have never previously been considered and 10 that have previously been rejected because they are inconsistent with the orthodox battlefield at Battle Abbey. Hurst Lane matches, or is consistent with, every clue.

Battlefield ditches

The contemporary accounts describe two ditches and one group of ditches that were encountered at different stages of the battle. The first was lateral, to the side of the battlefield, into which the Normans were shield charged early in the battle. Assuming the Normans were not shield charged more than 1000m and not shield charged through woodland, this is inconsistent with Battle Abbey and all the other battlefield candidates, but there are two such ditches at Hurst Lane along the bounding streams.

The second ditch was adjacent to the battlefield and was encountered as the English fell back after Harold was killed. It is described as an immense, precipitous-sided non-fluvial ditch. In this region, it was almost certainly a Roman iron ore mine. The biggest open cast Roman iron ore mine in the region (1 on LiDAR above) was adjacent to our proposed Hurst Lane battlefield. It is immense, some 100m by 150m by 8m, it is on the only route the English could have taken to fall back, and it is exactly as described in the contemporary accounts. The famous Malfosse, into which many Norman riders and their horses fell to their death, was part of this ditch. It is said that the riders failed to see it because it was overgrown with brambles. The main ditch at Hurst Lane is far too big to be disguised by brambles, but it has a long narrow extension to the northwest that exactly fits the bill (immediately above M). It is some 30m long by 5m wide by 4m deep, and it is still disguised by brambles that grow out of the ditch sides.

The third 'ditch' is described as a network or labyrinth of ditches and broken ground, encountered as the English fled towards a Roman road. There are three more immense Roman iron ore mines between our proposed battlefield and the Rochester Roman road 1km away (2, 3, 4/5 on the diagram above), and a large expance of broken ground (B). Several accounts explain that hardly anyone died at the battlefield but that thousands of Englishmen died in the flight through this labyrinth of ditches and woodland. This area is named Killingan Wood. 

Not only do these three ditches exactly match the descriptions in the contemporary accounts, but a simple check of the LiDAR shows that they are unique. Happily, all these features are still there and most of them are accessible on public footpaths. 

The Norman advance

One contemporary account gives a detailed description of the Norman advance. Initially, the armies can see each other, the English at the battlefield, the Normans at their battle camp. As the Normans advance, they go out of sight, then reappear on the crest of a hill adjacent to the battlefield. They proceed along the crest of that hill, then cross a valley, then 'wheel' into position down the battlefield slope. At Sedlescombe, this description corresponds to the route shown in cyan dots on the map above. The only likely reason that the Normans did not advance directly towards the battlefield is that there was a river or swamp in between, and/or that there was a Roman road that took them most of the way. Both uniquely apply to Hurst Lane, which was adjacent to the only paved Roman road in the region.