- THE CHRONICLE OF BATTLE ABBEY
- I have studied the details of this manuscript in my manuscript
in pages 18 - 22.
- This states that William "landed safely near
the town called Pevensey… the army extensively along an area
of shore"….."the Duke spent no long time
there, but made his way with his men to the near-by port called
Hastings. There he found a suitable place, and with foresight
he quickly built a wooden fort".
- This Chronicle also confirms that William landed near Pevensey,
not at Pevensey, Pevensey being most likely that area of land
between Hastings in the east and Pevensey in the west. They appeared
to be spread out, "extensively along an area of shore",
but they made their way to "the port nearby of Hastings"
where they "built a wooden fort".
- The same paragraph continues "arriving at the hill
called Hedgeland, which lies towards Hastings, while they were
hurriedly getting one and another into armour, a hauberk (a sort
of tunic), was held up to the Duke to get into, and unaccountably
it was offered the wrong way round". This is an important
point and I would like to raise a flag here! This was taken as
a bad omen, but is important, because the place called Hedgeland
is named in the Chronicle as the name of the hill where this event
took place. Somewhere near Hastings nearby the port of Hastings.
- This same story is recounted in the Wace manuscript, which
I shall look at next. However in the Wace version this event takes
place on a hill and this hill is the site of the Norman camp near
Hastings. In consequence the main conclusion from the Chronicle
of Battle Abbey is that the Norman camp was also at this place
called Hedgeland.
- This observation is of immense importance, because until now
Hedgeland was believed to be located on the ridge between Telham
and the Battle Abbey, less than a mile from the battle site. However
there is no record of Hedgeland in the Domesday Book, as a land
holding at that time, and it is not recorded anywhere near the
port of Hastings.
- I make the case in my manuscript (pages 21-22) that
the authors of the Chronicle indeed knew the Norman camp was at
what they believed was called Hedgeland, near the port of Hastings,
but that the name has been changed through mispronunciation or
transcription between the period when the Normans first landed,
and when it was first recorded in the Chronicle.
- Like the Charters drawn up at the same time, I make the case
that the monks invented a place called Hedgeland up on the ridge,
in order to justify their position and privileges granted to the
Abbey by the forged charters. This was most probably not an intentional
deceit, but one that is common in relation to place names.
- Here I would like to proffer an explanation, which demonstrates
better how this probably occurred. which shows that in these circumstances
the common derivatives of the name from Old English are not relevant
to the development of the name.
- In this case we have an Abbey, which was built on the site
of the place where William is supposed to have stated, "And
to strengthen the hands and hearts of you who are about to fight
for me, I make a vow that on this very battlefield I shall found
a monastery, for the salvation of all, and especially for those
who fall here" - you can just image William saying that,
cant you? A nice eloquent battlefield oath. Almost good enough
to be in Shakespeare's Henry 5th?
- However, we now know that the Charters upon which the Abbey
claimed its authenticity, were in fact forged, and the battlefield
oath was a common element of rhetoric, employed by authors of
the time to flatter their patrons. In practice the oaths were
never made on the battlefield, but made up after the event, when
some willing scribe materialised the deed, in order to gain the
blessing of the church.
- In the case of the Battle Chronicle, the Abbey had indeed
been built over 90 years previously, and the time to write the
events down had come. The scribe knew that the Norman camp was
at what he believed to be Hedgeland, so he recorded it as such,
including the elements of the now famous holding up of the tunic
the wrong way round.
- In the meantime Hedgeland, which was not recorded by the monks
as being on their land, knew that according to the Wace manuscript
the Norman camp could be seen the night before the battle. In
consequence when sitting in their cloisters in the newly built
Battle Abbey and they were asked where Hedgeland was, they pointed
to the Ridge, because that was where it had to be, in order for
their beloved Chronicle to be correct, because it must be possible
to see Hedgeland from the battle (and now Abbey) site.
- They could not know that at the correct site of the Norman
camp, at the port of Hastings, there still existed a place named,
which somehow had been lost to their knowledge. This place is
now, and I believe was then, called Redgeland, and that was the
original name of the Norman camp. That was the name that should
have been recorded by the author of the Chronicle. However it
had nothing to do with what the original Old English name was,
it was a mistake in the original transcription, from the spoken
word to the written one.
- This sole mistake has been the single greatest contribution
to the misunderstanding of where the Norman camp and landing site
is located. If that original author had written Redgeland, as
he should, the development of two Redgeland's would have been
spotted by historians. However the two names Hedgeland and Redgeland
were accepted as being different by place name experts, because
of their assumed different Old English origins.
- I make the case in my manuscript that Redgeland and
Hedgeland are the same place and in consequence this manuscript
confirms absolutely that the Norman Camp is located on the same
hill that is above Redgeland Wood, where I make the case that
the old port of Hastings is located. That hill is now called Upper
Wilting Farm and is proposed to be cut in half by the Highways
Agency trunk route, and also the amenity group route S6A of the
A259 Bexhill to Hastings bypass.
- It might be argued that the two names, being so close are
just a coincidence. If that is so I would say that you have
to be absolutely certain that this is a coincidence, before
you throw the lever on the gallows. Because building a trunk road
across this site, would be the equivalent doing just that, to
an innocent man. There is absolutely no chance, that a site of
such delicate archaeological content, would survive once the bulldozers
move in.
- If we suppose that the place name closeness is just a coincidence,
then it must surely be stretching the imagination, to find that
Redgeland and the hill behind it fulfils the requirements of almost
all of the thirty-four elements, I have identified in my manuscript,
as applying to the site of the Norman camp (my manuscript
pages 64 - 71). NO! NO! NO! - to use a popular expression from
a famous Prime Minister.
- This is not a coincidence! One or two elements might qualify
as a coincidence, but not thirty-four, that is just beyond belief.
Redgeland and Hedgeland are one and the same. Not because of place
name development - that would be too great a coincidence. Two
places connected with the battle of Hastings and the Norman Invasion
site? Both at the camp of William the Conqueror - No No No.It
was because the name was known and used in connection with a different
place from the original by the monks who recorded the events.
In the course of time the camp site name changed subtly from Hedgeland
to Redgeland. The Old English origins have no basis in the history
of either site, and therefore must be excluded from any conclusion
in that respect. The obvious conclusion is that the monks got
the name wrong from the phonetics and invented a site called Hedgeland
on the ridge. A simple case of "obvious but true" -
no complicated convoluted explanation, involving separate name
development expressing some remarkable coincidence.
- The Battle Abbey Chronicle is correct, the Norman camp is
based on the hill above the land that is now called Redgeland,
and was known to them as Hedgeland. This evidence cannot be ignored,
because if I am correct ,it proves conclusively that Wilting,
where Redgeland is still located, is the site of the first Norman
camp built in 1066. It proves that Wilting is the landing site
and it proves that the archaeological information that I shall
bring to your attention, is of unique heritage value to this country.
It proves that Wilting has the potential to be more than just
another archaeological site, but would undoubtedly qualify as
a national archaeological treasure which cannot be lost to road
development, under any circumstances, no matter how slight that
risk may be.
- I shall now look at the manuscript called the
- ROMAN DE RUE**********************
- by Master Wace referred to here as "Wace".
- This manuscript is accepted in France as the main authority
for the Bayeux tapestry version of the Invasion and is quoted
almost word for word in the Centre for the Bayeux Tapestry, in
Bayeux northern France. It contains over 16,000 lines of verse
and is very detailed.
- One of the most important elements that I have identified
relating to the Invasion in this manuscript, involves the claim
that this is a story which is told, with the benefit of an eye
witness account. Wace states that his father recalls that there
were 696 ships involved. It confirms, like the previous manuscripts,
"They arrived near Hastings", "
each ship was ranged by the other's side" and their landing
was unopposed. In this instance Wace goes into considerable detail
about the landing, describing the area adjacent to the landing
site as a "plain", and describing the fort which
they bought with them, with "pins…. Cut and ready
in large barrels". On the evening of the landing they
enjoy a banquet and the text follows in a word for word account
of the pictures shown in the Bayeux Tapestry, adding considerable
detail along the way.
- Wace states that after the landing the Duke ordered that the
ships be "dismantled and drawn ashore and pierced",
the present day equivalent of decommissioning. This is indirectly
confirmed by both the Carmen, which uses the expression "surrounded
them with earthworks" and the Chronicle of Battle Abbey
states that most of the ships "were burnt".
- Historians have failed to understand these three versions
(decommissioning, earthed up or burnt)by believing that only one
version of events can be correct. Thus casting doubt on the one's
which did not suit your particular perspective.
- I take the view that all these versions are correct and can
be applied to the site at Wilting. Here we have circumstances
where some of the boats that I have up till now identified have
1) been earthed up in an inlet, 2)have suffered from burning because
of the presence of charcoal and 3) were probably in part dismantled.
Only proper archaeological excavation will confirm these matters.
It is the object of this presentation to seek to ensure the integrity
of this site, to allow such an investigation to be completed.
- As stated earlier Wace claims "The first day they
held their course along the sea shore: and on the morrow came
to a castle called Pevensey". All the evidence from the
Domesday data, which I have studied in detail in the next manuscript,
confirms this version of the events of the landing to be correct.
Wace states they landed near Hastings and moved to Pevensey the
following day.
- Wace reports a spy watching the landing. Being positioned
behind a hill at the camp site, he watches the Normans build a
fort, and dig a ditch. A detailed description of the events shown
in the Bayeux Tapestry, but in the Wace version he reports that
the knight in question "journeyed on by night and day
to seek Harold his Lord"
- This is an interesting use of the word Lord, because it infers
that the connection between the knight in question and the king
was one of lord, as in feudal lord. If this was not the case the
text would have referred to "Harold his king"
or "king Harold" This is not a coincidence, because
Crowhurst, the manor to the north of Wilting is the only manor
east of Lewes where Harold was the lord of the manor.
- In consequence Wace is indirectly telling us, through his
detailed knowledge of the events of the time, that a knight from
Crowhurst was the one spying on the Norman camp.
- Wace repeats the details of the knight, when he gets to Harold's
camp, stating "The Normans, he cried, are come! They have
landed at Hastings" not Pevensey. This
time not even near Hastings, but at Hastings.
- Lastly, before the Normans leave to go to battle, Wace reports
they build chapels in the field, where their camp is located,
and the Duke stands on the hill, to get a better view and to give
them a pre-battle pep talk. After this the story of the tunic
turned the wrong way round is told yet again in the Norman camp.
- In conclusion there can be no doubt to anyone who has conducted
a thorough research of these matters, that the Norman camp was
at Hastings, and the hill in question was at the port of Hastings.
Taken in conjunction with the other texts that name this hill
Redgeland. There can be no doubt from these historical documents
that Wilting does hold what is left of the Norman camp and landing
site.
- I shall now look at the Domesday Book
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