12th May 2014, 04:38 PM
Last time I looked, Hastings was in exactly the right place - in Hastings! The battle, however, supposedly took place some miles north, on the road to London... :o)
As for the evidence, all we have is a whacking big monastery, approved by Old Bill the B*stard himself to appease the Pope. And if anyone could remember the correct location a few years on, it'd have been him! (Battles in that age leave very scant evidence, especially if the goodies & bodies get picked up afterwards...) And is the article suggesting the Normans arrived on scene in October 1066 with blocks of Caen stone in hand, to start building as soon as the blood dried up? Why else would it matter if any was found at Crowhurst - within a decade of the Conquest there were probably fresh construction programmes all over the place as the new owners "upgraded" their holdings.
Part of the problem is deciding exactly where the Normans landed along that coast, since the routes inland depend on the starting point, and folks have suggested most of the beach from Hastings in the east to Eastbourne in the west of Pevensey Bay. And Crowhurst isn't really on a main thoroughfare, so is less likely to be on the army's route than Battle. Still, let's have some evidence! Til then, any spot south of London is as likely...
As for the evidence, all we have is a whacking big monastery, approved by Old Bill the B*stard himself to appease the Pope. And if anyone could remember the correct location a few years on, it'd have been him! (Battles in that age leave very scant evidence, especially if the goodies & bodies get picked up afterwards...) And is the article suggesting the Normans arrived on scene in October 1066 with blocks of Caen stone in hand, to start building as soon as the blood dried up? Why else would it matter if any was found at Crowhurst - within a decade of the Conquest there were probably fresh construction programmes all over the place as the new owners "upgraded" their holdings.
Part of the problem is deciding exactly where the Normans landed along that coast, since the routes inland depend on the starting point, and folks have suggested most of the beach from Hastings in the east to Eastbourne in the west of Pevensey Bay. And Crowhurst isn't really on a main thoroughfare, so is less likely to be on the army's route than Battle. Still, let's have some evidence! Til then, any spot south of London is as likely...