| Where: | Battle, Sussex at the Abbey |
| When: | Weekend nearest 14th October |
| Time: | 10am-4pm |
The Battle of Hastings is one of the most significant events in British history and each year a re-enactment takes place in memory of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. It’s organised by English Heritage at Battle Abbey which was built on the spot by a grateful Williamthe Conqueror after his victory. The battlefield itself is situated in fields immediately behind the impressive buildings of the Abbey, which is now used as a school. Expect plenty of blood-curdling screams as the Normans and Anglo-Saxons hurl themselves into the fray. There are also plenty of living history displays and activities over this two-day event including talks, plays and demonstrations – something for all ages and it makes a very interesting day out.
Helpful Hints
In 2025 the Battle Weekend should take place on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th October (to be confirmed). Check the website link for full details – it must be booked in advance.
Large crowds turn out for this event so allow plenty of time for parking etc as Battle is a small town. Best views of the battle are from the sides rather than the top – don’t stray too far downhill from the PA system if you want to hear the commentary. The field car parking in 2014 could have done with a sign approaching the entrance gate as we almost drove straight past and it was very muddy indeed following heavy rain- take your wellies! Plenty of interesting food and drink are available on site as well as English Heritage merchandise and lots of stalls selling Saxon and early medieval themed goods.
For the event website click here : http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/1066-battle-of-hastings-abbey-and-battlefield/events
Since ‘Britain’ is a modern construct invented purely in order to further colonial interests in 1707,the invasion of 1066 pre-dates the term ‘British’ by roughly 600 years.
What happened at Battle was the destruction of one of Europe’s first nation states, England, by the bastard usurper and his mercenaries, William was not sanctified by royal consent or approval of the Witan.To state (above) that the Normans and ‘Anglo Saxons’ fought is more another deliberate attempt to airbrush the English ( who were described as such by Bede in the early 8th century) out of history.The British tag at the top of the webpage says it all really.This is ‘British ‘ historical revisionism at work!
I think its time you had a look at this web site and familiarised yourself with what is happening at Battle and the surrounding countryside as its relevant – very relevant and the archaeology is coming out of the ground now so dont anticipate too many more reenactments at Battle Abbey – get the information yourself without it being filtered by English Heritage and understand why please because its important and at least 5000 Englishmen gave their blood for this country and not at Battle Abbey. The lie has to be stopped.
http://secretsofthenormaninvasion.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/is-the-bexhill-link-road-going-through-the-uks-most-important-battlefield/
regards
Nick
Dear Sir! We are still interested to participate on the Hasting marked.
We are producer from Sweden of viking jewellry.
We participate in the most important marked in Europe with our jewellry.
We produce jewellry to important museum in scandinavia. http://www.vikingkristall.com
We hope that you have a space for us 3×4 mt.
Best Regards
Stig Nielsen
Hi Stig,
Calendarcustoms isn’t connected to the organisation of this event, but if you contact customers@english-heritage.org.uk by email or telephone +44 (0) 870 333 1181 the staff at English Heritage should be able to help you. Good luck!
Kind Regards,
Averil
Dear all,
I hope all is well. I am a big fan of English history and I read a lot about it.
I am especially fascinated with the battle of Hastings and I would love to see the remake of it. And even I would love to participate on the battle and maybe as one of the soldiers of Normans or Saxons. Would anyone will be willing to advice me on this?
Would love to hear from you.
Greetings,
Yama from The Hague, The Netherlands.
:).
Hi Yama,
Welcome to calendar customs! We’ve been to the re-enactment of the battle and it’s well worth seeing – as it’s such a big event there are several re-enactment groups involved, so initially I think best advice would be for you to contact English Heritage who manage the battle site and organise the event, then hopefully they can give you advice on who to approach to get involved. You can fill out an inquiry on their contacts form if you follow this link : https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/forms/customer-services-contact-form/
Best of luck!
Averil
Dear Averil,
Thank you so much for your reply.
I have contacted English-Herritage,
:).
Hey there! Would the dates for 2023 be set in stone yet? I’m planning on attending then and wondered if the reenactment would be on the weekend of 14-15 October. Would you recommend staying in Hastings or in Battle at this time? Any advice is appreciated!
Hi Kristy,
I’d say it’s highly likely that the reenactment will be on the 14-15 October in 2023 but we don’t have any connection to the organisation of it, so you’ll need to ask English Heritage who run both the site and the event. You can find the page for the Abbey at https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/1066-battle-of-hastings-abbey-and-battlefield/
As for where to stay…they’re both lovely places- Hastings is much bigger and livelier, while Battle is more village-y and is of course the heart of the action…so it just depends what you prefer really. I’m from the other end of the country and while I’ve visited both places I don’t know them very well.
Hope you can get a definite answer from English Heritage- it’s a really good day out!
Best wishes,
Averil
Hi!
A very silly question: Are there different events on Saturday and Sunday or the same things happen on each day?
Eg is the re-enactment on a specific day?
Thank you very much!
Hello- not a silly question at all! And yes the re-enactment and most of the activities are on both days at the same time, though some of the other events may be on only for one day depending on the availability of the participants (eg talks etc). If you follow the link to the English Heritage site they should be able to give you the full programme when it’s all been fixed. Hope that helps!
Thank you so much 🙂