The Museums

Hastings Museum was at the time of the start of my search located in a building in the old town of Hastings and in many respects had the same air of ancient decay as the one in the town of Battle. The ground floor had a dusty manikin of a Norman soldier in battle dress and there were the same glass cases, with the feel of a bygone era. The main displays were upstairs in glass cases and again there were no Norman period exhibits.

This time it was explained to me that like Battle Abbey there were no Norman exhibits, because there were surprisingly none in the town. It was supposed that erosion had taken place where the castle is located resulting in any Norman artefacts having been lost to the sea. It was also pointed out that the castle came into existence after the battle, so perhaps the Normans had removed Hastings from the map.

In any event there was an apology and it was suggested that because the Battle Abbey site was in a different borough, the borough of Rother, perhaps if I went to the Bexhill museum they would have something of interest there. In the meantime perhaps I should go up to the remains of the castle on the cliff and ask there, as that was certainly Norman, and they would know where I could find artifacts to confirm the presence of Normans.

I found this extremely confusing. I was relatively new to the area, having moved there the previous year. I had young children and foolishly I thought that going to Hastings there would be some sort of tourist bonanza, like they operate in places like Bayeux, which has hundreds of thousands of visitors a year.

What I found in the Hastings museum, and also the one in Bexhill, which didn't even have a stuffed Norman soldier, is a total lack of any credible evidence of a Norman presence at all in the archaeological record. The tourist industry was dead and the town was close to death - probably as a result. The sole evidence appeared to be based upon historical documents, which historians accept as valid. That weight of evidence is supported by the fact that the Count of Eu, one of William the Conqueror's right hand men, built the Hastings castle around 1100 according to the historians.

Battle Abbey on the other hand was built immediately after the battle and so these two buildings are the lynch pin that holds the whole Norman Invasion story together. The visits to the museums were important, because they were at the start of this quest and they showed me that something was wrong with recorded history. I could see what others failed to see - a silver thread of truth in my search.

What concerned me most of all was the unexpected discovery of no archaeological record in Hastings before the castle was built in 1100. I knew enough about logic to tell me that something wasn't right there. If there was no archaeological record of pottery or anything else prior to 1100 it meant only one conclusion - Hastings - the town of Hastings was not there before 1100. This meant that if Hastings wasn't there the place called the port of Hastings was somewhere else.

At the public inquires that followed over the years, this simple truth has been ignored by the road builders. It isn't considered their problem to explain these issues. However it was important in my search for truth, because the Normans are reported to have landed at the port of Hastings. We have covered that thoroughly in the earlier document.

Having found nothing to support the case for the battle site to be located at Battle, or anywhere else for that matter, I started to think this was a rather mad idea. Everyone I spoke to told me that finding nothing on a battle site was quite normal. I was quoted Bosworth Field as a good example of a similar situation. I should not concern myself with such issues, because history was written in history books, and it isn't that important to worry about. If all the historians agreed then surely that is enough for us mere mortals, who do not spend all our lives studying such a specialist subject as the Norman Invasion, should accept their word.

It seemed to make sense and so my passion for this subject dropped for about half a year. Life got back to normal and life took its normal path. Then I went to Cannes in the South of France for a trade show connected to my music business.

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