(dramatic music)
(pen scraping) (gentle music) - 944 years ago, some local
Saxons might have come to this very spot, the top of Beachy Head, and looked out there,
across the English Channel. (monks chanting) And if they'd have been standing up here on the 28th of September, they'd have seen a mighty
invasion fleet out there, ships crammed with thousands
of warriors and horses, and among them, Duke William of Normandy, a man who within weeks
would lead that army into battle at Hastings, and whose destiny it was
to become king of England. (monks chanting) 1066, the most famous
date in British history. What actually happened between the Norman fleet
appearing out there and the Battle of Hastings
fought 16 miles that way? Well, that's what I'll
be finding out today as I walk in the footsteps of the Normans. (dramatic music) (birds chirping) In this series, I'll be looking
at very specific moments of the Norman story, trying to find out what the great British
landscape can tell us about what we know for sure,
and what's just speculation. And the first story I'll be
looking at was played out along this stretch of the south coast. Today, I'll be armed with the most famous piece
of Norman evidence of all, the Bayeux Tapestry, a
detailed illustration of events that took place along my walk. It stands alongside a handful
of Saxon and Norman chronicles as valuable accounts from
soon after the invasion, and they mean we can be fairly
certain of a few key events. William and his Norman army
hit the English coastline on the 28th of September. But it was mid-October
before they squared up against the might of King
Harold and the Saxons. My walk is going to lead me
to the battlefield itself. But why did the armies clash
here? And why not earlier? On my way to battle, I want to
explore the town of Hastings, and understand the role
of the Saxon manors that once littered the local countryside. But before that, there's
the coastline itself, because first of all, the
Normans needed somewhere to land. (birds chirping) The Bayeux Tapestry gives
a beautiful depiction of what William's fleet
must have looked like. Absolutely vast numbers of men and horses. And you can see even the decoration on the prow of the ships here. It also leaves us in no doubt as to where William actually
landed on the coast. It said they arrived in Pevensey. And that's why I've come
here to Pevensey Castle to begin my journey. But the first thing you notice about this ancient coastal defensive site is that it lies a good
mile from the coast. The Romans had established a fort at Pevensey some eight centuries
before the Norman invasion. At that time, the castle stood
on a finger of firm ground, a projection between the
marshy inlet of Pevensey Bay and the long beach that once
ran beneath the castle walls. But what role did this
spot play for Duke William? Hi, David. I've arranged to meet David Carpenter, professor of medieval history, and someone who can answer
a very obvious question. - Well, why Pevensey? I mean, you could argue that
it was just an accident, the wind blowing there, but I'm absolutely sure that wasn't it. I think it was very, very
carefully calculated. And Pevensey's got two great advantages. The first is this Roman fort. Also, if you look out there, and look at all the marshland round, it's very difficult to approach. So it's completely safe. But I don't think that
was the main reason. I think it's not so much
Pevensey as Pevensey Bay, because what you've got here is that great mass of shingle beach where you can bring large
numbers of ships up. He probably had well over 1,000 ships, so you can't use a port. You've got to, like 1944, D-Day, you've got to run them up onto the beach. And that's just what the
Bayeux tapestry shows, 'cause it shows all the boats
being drawn up onto the beach, and then the horses being unloaded. And that's what you could do at Pevensey. - What about the Bayeux tapestry? 'Cause it's such an important source and yet historians like
you are sort of questioning some of its veracity. - There's a terrific debate about it. Everyone would agree that its early, that it's probably very soon after 1066. But beyond that, there's a great debate. 'Cause on one hand, there's the view that it's simply the Norman
story, Norman triumphalism. On the other hand, there's the view that it's got an English subtext 'cause it was certainly woven in England. There's an idea that the English weavers, many of them women perhaps, were trying to sort of
make the English case. They were trying to make
Harold a great heroic figure. I mean, I personally think
that's a load of nonsense. - Okay. - And that the whole of the
tapestry can be explained in terms of Norman triumphalism. So I mean, why is Harold like that? It's just that it makes the
victory all the greater. And yeah, you do have to
take some of it with care, because it's very much
giving the Norman version. I mean, you've got a
classic example of it there, which is Harold's oath. Here he is, taking this
oath to Duke William. And it's basically the oath, I mean, the tapestry
begins with whole story of Edward the Confessor
sending Harold to Normandy in order to take this oath to
give the throne to William. Now, that's in all the Norman sources. It's not in any of the
English sources at all. It's not in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," which is the main English
source about events. And so, you know, historians have debated, did this happen or not? - I've always been fascinated by the relationship
William had with England. I mean, he's not going to
an unknown foreign land when he arrives here, is he? - The extraordinary thing about that is, which is very, very little commented on, is that Fecamp Abbey, the
great ducal abbey in Normandy, where the Dukes of Normandy are buried, it has properties here, because Edward the
Confessor had given Fecamp Winchelsea and Rye further up the coast. Now that must mean there was
great connections all the time between Fecamp and this area, people going backwards and forwards, bailiffs, money going
backwards and forward. So the Conqueror could have been, through Fecamp, very genned up. Not merely could, he was, because he spent the
Easter of 1066 at Fecamp. And I'm absolutely sure that that's when he
found out about the area. - So, right, he's got a
sort of protected site here, he's surrounded by marshy land,
he's secured the beachhead, which is what you've got to do. What does he do next? - Well, that's another
extraordinary thing, because having got to Pevensey,
he leaves it immediately. I think if you look out here, look at all the marshland
around, you can see why. Because Pevensey is a
jolly good place to land and a jolly bad place to stay. It's just bog, basically,
bog all around Pevensey. And the tapestry shows this. Because the tapestry shows the knights going immediately from Pevensey. What's the actual title there? They're going to seize food. So that's one thing, but
they're also going to ravage. (gentle music) - So, just like William and his men, I'm moving swiftly on from
the isolation of Pevensey and heading east to start my walk. 10 miles along the coast is one of the ancient ports
of south-east England, a commanding settlement with a history going back 2,000 years. In 1066, William chose to settle at the well-connected Saxon
burgh, or town, called Hastings. Hastings is the town that's given its name to the battle that marked one of the most important turning
points in British history. That's slightly strange because, in fact, the battle took place a few miles inland. But Hastings does have an important part to play in this story, because
it may have been the site of William the Conqueror's
first castle in England. But all that's left of that
now is that mound over there. (gentle music) Hastings was to be the
Normans' headquarters in the run-up to battle. And looking at the tapestry again, we can see a wooden fort being erected atop a patch of high ground. But the tapestry isn't precise about where this fort might have been. Today, we can only look for clues. This is the motte of Hastings Castle, a man-made defensive earth
mound that the Normans liked to put at the heart of all their
castles and fortifications. Now in the 1960s, it
was partially excavated and what the archeologists
discovered really surprised them because the Normans
have a great reputation as castle builders but this
motte is a bit unstable and far too sandy. It suggests that it was thrown
together in quite a hurry. So it's likely, if not certain, that this humble mound was the focal point of events in early October 1066. The cliff overlooking Hastings
would seem a sensible spot for William to first make
his mark on English soil. And from here, he unleashed
a two-week reign of terror, designed to feed his
troops, devastate the area and incite his Saxon foe into battle. So if we assume that
William's army did come here to Hastings, how did he
get to the battlefield, which is actually some way inland? Well, armies need good firm ground and there's a ridge that
runs right along here towards the battlefield itself, so we can assume he went up there. However, nowadays that's all main road. So they don't make for
very interesting walking. So what I'm going to go
slightly along the coast and then in here to find out
what this landscape can tell us about these few days that
had such a vast impact on English history. (gentle music) To get from Hastings to the battlefield, I'll walk west along the coast to find out why this town worked so well
as William's headquarters. Turning inland, the extent to which this coastline
has changed becomes clear, as I traverse the one-time tidal
inlet known as Combe Haven. All around here were the
Saxon manors and settlements of the rolling Sussex countryside. In particular, I'll
pass through Crowhurst, King Harold's own manor,
deliberately targeted for destruction by the Normans. From here, I'll head
towards the battlefield, joining the route taken by
the Normans out of Hastings and through the spot where the opposing armies would
have first spied each other. The final stretch of
my walk follows events in the run-up to battle, leading me right onto the
battlefield at Senlac Hill, beneath the great abbey and
the town that marked the place where a new era of history was forced upon our island nation. (gentle music)
(waves lapping) But back at Hastings, I already know that the ancient Saxon port has been long since eradicated, lost to the sea in the area
around the Hastings pier. But is it possible to imagine how Hastings might have
worked for William? A question I put to the
Sussex County Archeologist. Thanks for talking to us. - My pleasure. The coastline here is
completely different now, mainly because of erosion
along this part of the coast. Effectively, because of the geology, you've got hard rock pieces
coming out here at White Rock, at West Hill, where the
castle is, and at East Hill. And between them you've
got a series of valleys. And the valleys have silted up and the headlands have
eroded, so 1,000 years ago, the coastline would have been
more complex than it is now. - So why choose this stretch of the south coast of England to invade? - Well, between the White
Cliffs of Dover to the east and the white cliffs at
Archeologist Head to the west, you've got two big areas of marshland, Pevensey Levels and the Romney Marsh. And in between those, you've
really got one significant area of high ground where the High
Weald comes to the coast. - [Dan] And is Hastings better
placed then for a move inland towards the heart of Saxon England? - The High Weald is particularly
good for its iron content, and the iron industry was established in the prehistoric period but
it was during the Roman period that it became very, very significant. And the Romans used a lot of the slag to create superb roads. You know, they've got
slag metaling this thick. And they would have produced
roads which would have lasted right through the Saxon
period into the 11th century. So you've got this fantastic
infrastructure of Roman roads, many of which come down to the coast around this sort of Hastings peninsula. - It's amazing. So we talk about William's
great generalship, but so much of it actually
just does comes down to logistics, communications
and geography. (dramatic music) The changing face of this
coastline is absolutely key to understanding why the
Normans behaved as they did. What we now see as this, would have once looked more like this. And when you remember
the ridge of high ground and the Roman road stretching north, Hastings starts to look
like a very logical place from which to organize an operation. (footsteps shuffling) Today this feels like such
a straight, stable piece of seafront, but in fact, that's only been achieved at the expense of thousands of hours
of busy human activity, building these groynes out here and desperately trying to
hold the beach in place and stop the channel eroding the coast as it would have done for millennia. (upbeat music) Just west of Hastings' high
ridge, this is Bulverhythe. The name is Saxon, meaning
Harbor of the Borough. Over 1,000 years ago, it was
a narrow gateway to an inlet that filled the boggy marsh
now known as Combe Haven. The question is, what state would Combe
Haven have been in, in 1066? (gentle music) This is very telling, there've been two weeks
of fine, dry weather, but even at the moment, the ground here at Combe
Haven is soaking wet. Completely waterlogged. Speculation has run to the idea that the Norman fleet
itself could have sailed as far inland as here. But, perhaps more reliably, archeological reports suggest humans have been digging drainage channels here since the Roman age. By the time the Normans got here, mankind was already
trying to assume control. Even after all the drainage
that's gone on here, all the land reclamation, it's amazing just how
waterlogged Combe Haven still is. I've never been here before and
it's absolutely fascinating, because it allows you
to say with certainty that no medieval army could
have passed through this marsh. Sp there's Hastings over
there on that high ground. William is protected on both
sides by these marshy areas. But it does also means he has to stick to that high ground when he moves inland. And that's why I've come down here 'cause you get a great
view of William's route from the sea inland
towards the battlefield. (gentle music) For two weeks in October 1066, the area between Hastings and
the battlefield bore the brunt of the Norman army's occupation. These were productive, fertile lands, and all around Combe Haven would have been Saxon settlements, ideally placed for
feeding William's troops. Well, I've emerged from the marshes and what greets me but the
sight of a cricket square. That's very Sussex. I'm sure there's a vicar on a
bicycle round here somewhere. But to quote from the "Domesday Book," this same area was "laid
waste" by the Normans. 20 years after the invasion, Domesday records that 2% of Sussex lands were still entirely unproductive, all of them lying in this
area around Hastings. This is the rather picturesque
village of Crowhurst. We know it's been here
since the Saxon period. One of the reasons is because hurst is a classic Saxon suffix,
meaning clearing in the woods. But so are some other villages round here because they all have ham at the end, which is another Anglo-Saxon suffix. You've got Little Worsham
Farm, Pebsham Wood, up here you've got Monkham Wood. So this is an area is absolutely dripping in Anglo-Saxon heritage. And it's not just any
old village, this one, because this was actually part of the personal estates of King Harold. (gentle music) Even before he seized
the throne in early 1066, Harold was the most powerful landowner in this part of England. And William knew that. The would-be conqueror made a beeline for the manor of Crowhurst, inciting Harold with a direct
assault on his local people. Right here next to the church
is this incredible yew tree which is at least 1,000 years old, and quite possibly much older than that. And yew trees were always great meeting
points for communities. And so what Christians tended to do was simply co-opt those
pre-existing spiritual places and just stick a
Christian site next to it, so that's what seems
to have happened here. Absolutely amazing to think
that this yew tree was here when William landed on that shore. (gentle music)
(birds chirping) Whether William himself came here or not, we'll simply never know, but we can be sure that Harold
certainly wasn't at home. He was engaged in Yorkshire, crushing the Viking
invasion at Stamford Bridge, leaving Crowhurst to meet its fate. Romantics would have you believe that the tapestry
displays this very moment, with the harrowing image of a fleeing woman being that of Harold's mistress, Edith Swanneck, who days later would have the job of identifying the king's mutilated body. This is a fantastic
historic novel published in 1948 called "The Golden Warrior." One of the most dramatic scenes is when William comes here to Crowhurst. And it says that:
Harold's reeve had buried his lord's treasures under the
great yew in the churchyard, And he and his men were taken and not a soul would tell Duke William where the spoil was hidden. And then the reeve was
hanged from the yew tree, and the rest barred
within the hall and burnt. William and his captains
watched the reeve die and harkened to the cries of those burned. Some of the barons mocked,
some of them yawned. The Duke kept silence, his face unchanged. That's pretty exciting stuff, although it has no basis
in fact whatsoever. But that hasn't stopped people
round here telling visitors that King Harold's reeve,
his man of business, was actually hanged from
a tree in this churchyard. For me, that just shows
that even nearly 1,000 years after the events of this bloody year, we're still mythologizing it and still retelling the
story in our own way. (pensive music) But by walking this
land, you can go someway towards stripping away
the myths and legends from the likely truth of events. As I head up the gentle
slope of Telham Hill, I'm joining the route taken by the Normans as they left their camp and moved inland, attempting to grasp the upper hand as Harold completed his
250-mile journey from Yorkshire. Now, technically I have
left the footpath behind, which runs along that fence but I hope the farmer will forgive me. I'm looking for this
absolutely classic view. The one view you don't get
though is the one view I want, which is that way towards the battlefield, because the stockbroker belt's in the way. But I reckon if I get onto that road, try and peer through the hedge,
I might get a better view. I think this guy here has basically got the view that I want, so let's go down the hill a bit and try and cut in front of him. (dogs barking) Also get away from his aggressive dogs. I think this might be just perfect. Wow! That's a fantastic view. There's the battlefield there, where the ruins of that abbey are now. And then as you go up the ridge, you can see the windmill which
marks the site, it's said, where Harold and his army were gathering. So by the time William gets up here, he can actually see his enemy,
he can almost smell them. They're so close now, they're
like two juggernauts heading towards each other, two nations in arms that are bent on the
destruction of the other. (dramatic music) Chroniclers of the Norman
era paint a picture of William giving a Shakespearean speech as his army eyed the opposition. The very pro-Norman William of Poitiers even has William offering
Harold the chance of a noble solo combat to settle the issue of the English throne, saving
the bloodshed of thousands. Harold apparently rejected
the offer, saying, "Our advance continues. We march to victory!" For modern visitors, the
area around the battlefield now plays host to a sizeable Sussex town. Well, after all that lovely tranquility, I've finally arrived at the bright lights of the town of Battle, but before I go and look
at the battlefield itself, which is just there,
I'm gonna go have a look at how the Saxons were doing
at their camp over here. (dramatic music) If the Vikings hadn't
threatened in Yorkshire, Harold would have been
ready and waiting in Sussex. The outcome of 1066 could
have been very different, for good as William was, Harold too was a renowned commander. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that Harold mustered his
troops at the hoar apple tree, believed to have stood up here by the windmill on Caldbeck Hill. And that's where I'm
meeting a town resident who's written about the local landscape and how it influenced
events around the battle. What a fantastic view from up here. - It's gorgeous, isn't it?
- Yeah. Very commanding position. It's the first time I've been
able see a long way north. What are the key features
of that geography up there? - Well, basically, trees. It's the vastness of the Anglos Weald, the great Wealden Forest which covered most of Kent,
Sussex and into Hampshire. It stretched north to south
from here, almost to the Thames. And so, an impenetrable barrier, really, and certainly not one that William would have
relished marching through until he was certain of victory. - So how do we know Harold
chose this spot as a rendezvous? - Where we are now on Caldbeck Hill was the focal point of three hundreds, a hundred being the local
administrative unit. And there are several examples
of that, some 14 at least, where apple trees were
planted at those points. So really, this was the
first piece of open country that he could assemble troops on. And so we can be pretty
sure that this is the site of the hoar apple tree of the rendezvous which the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle tells us of. - So Harold's really sort
of blocking William in here, he's trying to stop him
from getting further inland and causing more damage? - [Neil] That's right. - Harold acts with
great speed, doesn't he? He comes down here from London. Why rush? Why not wait to gather more men, garner all the resources that
his kingdom had on offer to go and really crush this invader? - He enjoyed very much the element of surprising his enemies. He'd used it only a few weeks previously, most successfully, up at Stamford Bridge. So take the battle to the enemy, don't wait for the enemy to come to you. - Well, thanks so much. So Harold was supremely confident, and William didn't want to
let his troops get stuck in a British winter. Battle was inevitable. (suspenseful music) On the morning of 14th October, it was the Saxons who would have filed along what is now Battle High Street, a town that owes its very existence to the victory of the Normans. The Saxons headed south to this point to assume a defensive position
along the top of Senlac Hill, which for me marks the end of my walk. (people chattering) You'd totally be forgiven for thinking that all the fighting at the
battle of Hastings took place in this one little confined field, but that's not the case at all. It spread a long way that way, inland, and down there to that boggy area. Up there, on that ridge, is
where the English army were, rooted to the spot in a thick shield wall, beating their swords on the
back of their shields, shouting, "Out, out, out!" While down there in the valley, having made the march from
the coast at Hastings, was the Norman army, archers,
infantrymen and cavalry. Accounts from the time tell us
the Battle of Hastings raged for an entire day, a remarkable duration for
a set-piece medieval clash. (pensive music) The sides must have been
fairly evenly matched, but we have little idea about how many would have fought here. Perhaps it was 5,000 per side. But it could just as easily
have been 10,000 or more. There have never been any
archeological finds in this field that prove that the battle
was definitely fought here. The acidic soil has done away with what the scavengers left behind. But there is one piece of evidence which is fairly conclusive,
the ruins of this abbey. Built by William to
commemorate his victory and to do penance for the
blood that was shed here and his savagery in the weeks
leading up to the battle. Here at the center of the abbey is where the high altar would have been, erected on the very spot on
which King Harold was killed. Amongst the eulogizing of
the Norman chroniclers, the expressive license
of the Bayeux Tapestry, and a sorry lack of archeology, the abbey stands as a rare
monument in the landscape. A surviving marker for the
events of the Norman invasion. Even though I've learnt a huge amount about the 1066 campaign
by walking the ground, there's still a huge amount
that feels very obscure, like the shape of the coastline or the numbers of people involved. I think that's because virtually before the fighting had even stopped, people were retelling the stories and mythologizing these events. And every generation since
has been following suit. But one thing we can say
for certain is that in 1066, in this area of the country,
a decisive battle took place. One that saw Duke William of Normandy become William I, King of
England, the Conqueror. And it was the beginning
of the Norman Age. Join me for my next walk
on the Welsh borders, where I'll be finding out
what the Normans did next. They'd won a battle, but could they consolidate their
rule across a whole island? (dramatic music)
