Month: February 2026

One of the most important battles in English history was the Battle of Hastings in 1066. If you have ever had a British Lit course or other American or World history course, you likely have come across this event at some point. To go to the site of this battle though, you would head today not to the town of Hastings, England, but to the town of Battle about 6 miles northwest.

I headed to Battle by train today to look at the site of the important battle, see a bit of the town of Battle, and then look at what remains of the abbey that was built by the battle’s victor to commemorate those who died in the battle.

It was a 30 minute train ride south to Battle, which gets its name from the Battle of Hastings. (Guess the only other option for the town name would have been “Of” since Hastings was already taken.). Its current population is about 6,700.

A bit of background on the battle and abbey. The English Anglo-Saxon King Edward the Confessor died without an heir in January of 1066 which set up a struggle for succession to the throne. The two armies at the Battle of Hastings were that of the Anglo-Saxon King Harold, who claimed that Edward had wanted him to be king, and William, Duke of Normandy, a region of France. Both wanted to be seen as the true ruler of England.

William’s armies sailed from France to Hastings for the attack. Harold brought his army to Hastings after hearing of William’s intent and after his army had just had to fend off an attack from his brother and a Viking army. After the day long battle, Harold and much of his army was killed, and William became known as William the Conqueror and initiated the Norman conquest of England.

William founded the abbey in 1094 to atone for the violence of the battle and to commemorate his victory. It was a Benedictine Abbey for up to 140 Benedictine monks until 1538 when it was closed as part of Henry VIII’s Suppression of the Monasteries to confiscate their wealth. For the next 400 years, the abbey was an aristocratic residence for a number of families. In 1976, Battle Abbey was presented to the State.

One of the places we like to check out in the areas we stay in are the theaters. Sometimes there are tours provided, but sometimes we’ll look for shows that appeal to us so we can see the inside of local theaters. There are two theaters in town, the Assembly Hall Theatre, which seems to be part of the same building as the Town Hall and Amelia Museum, and the Trinity Theatre which is in the former Trinity Church building.

The Trinity Theatre does a lot with children’s theater and also offers community classes like exercise groups for seniors. We decided to focus on the more varied offerings at the Assembly Hall Theatre. We found a program of short films that we used to go to see when we lived in Austin, Texas. These are part of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour. They are always films about people doing active, adventurous things in beautiful parts of the world.

We thought we’d make it a big night out for us by going to dinner beforehand. Happily, last night was one of the few nights we’ve been here where it didn’t rain.

We caught a bus right at the end of the driveway that took us into downtown. We got off at the war memorial right in front of the Town Hall. It was a short walk from there to the Hotel du Vin where we had reservations for an early dinner.

We had a few minutes before our 5:00 pm reservation, so we had a quick look around the ground floor of the hotel.

We opted for the 3-course prix fixe menu for 29 pounds or about 40 US dollars. We both ordered the same starter and dessert but chose different main courses. We preferred the starter and dessert to the mains.

And finally, the lovely dessert.

After the posh meal, we walked across the street to the theater. The inside wasn’t near as attractive as many we have been in, but the seats were comfy and the staff was friendly.

We saw a total of five short films — from 6 minutes to 47 minutes. Most were just shy of 1/2 hour. The films we saw included mountain biking in Nepal, river rapids rafting in Gabon, running a 100+ mile race in Tennessee, two dads with their 2 year old sons biking in Switzerland, and rock climbing in Patagonia. There was a drawing for gifts after intermission (called interval here), but we didn’t have our names drawn. Still, a lovely night out.

Happy Groundhog Day if you’re a celebrator of this holiday and/or if your favorite animal prognosticator gave you the verdict you were hoping for in terms of length of winter. We don’t have any wild parties planned.

One of the Things To Do in Tunbridge Wells is to take a train ride on the short Spa Valley Railway. It runs from the old Tunbridge Wells West Train Station to the little town of Eridge, stopping at Groombridge and sometimes High Rocks. They offer both train rides on a steam train or historic diesel train (an out and back trip being about an hour if you don’t get off) as well as themed rides on the same trains for Burns Night or Valentines Day, etc.

We’ve been intrigued about these rides (me a bit more than Bob), but the trains currently only run on the weekends and the weather hasn’t been great. However, my recent research on Apple Maps showed me that one could walk to the High Rocks station (first one out of Tunbridge Wells) in about an hour from the house. Since this looked like the cutest stop, and the train doesn’t always stop there due to being a popular place for private events, I thought I might try walking there today.

No rain was in the forecast (but some fell anyway), and I headed out about 10:30 for a walk that would take me down to the busy road across from the Commons before heading west through a short neighborhood road before getting onto a path that took me all the way to High Rocks. It proved to be an inexpensive and close up way to experience the nature that the train would be passing, but it was not the easiest or cleanest of walks. Rain has consequences.

The Friezland Wood lies on the border of Kent and East Sussex. It is 8 hectares, has some impressive high sandstone rocks, and lies within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The High Weald National Landscape covers an area of 1,450 square kilometers and takes up part of Kent, Surrey, East Sussex, and West Sussex . The landscape has small farms and woodlands, historic parks, sunken lanes, and ridge top villages.

I may have missed some of the natural beauty while I was focused on my footing.

The following pics show some of the High Rocks that give the area that I was walking to its name.

Access to the train station was gated off as it lies just below the event venue.

Today I took the train to Tonbridge, a short 10 minute ride, to visit the Tonbridge Castle. Bob didn’t come with, as there a lot of uneven stairs in the castle and his right hip has been really bothering him.

The castle is conveniently located along the High Street in Tonbridge, a town that’s a good location for a fortified castle as it’s between London and seaports to the south. (Fun fact if AI can be trusted, Tonbridge was originally Tunbridge, but was forced to change its spelling in the 1870s to avoid confusion with Tunbridge Wells, which was faster growing due to its reputation as a spa town.)

The site of the castle was chosen for its views of the town and for its close proximity to the River Medway. It was originally a motte (mound) and bailey (courtyard) design — a fortified tower on a mound, surrounded by a timber wall surrounding a yard.

The old castle was gifted to Richard Fitzgilbert (later to be called de Clare) by William the Conqueror for coming with him from Normandy and fighting with him in the Battle of Hastings, the start of the Norman Conquest. The de Clare family owned the castle, in various iterations, for over 300 years. The castle was ultimately seized by Henry VIII in 1521 and bought by the town in 1897.

The tour cost 10 pound 50 (or 14.45 US dollars), and it included an audio guide for the self-guided tour. This being a slow season and a rainy day, I pretty much had the inside of the castle to myself, which was sometimes a little freaky.

Once I had purchased the ticket and received the audio guide, I went back out to the parking side of the gatehouse while the audio described the different features of the towers and archway. One of the features noted in the archway were the “murder holes,” square holes in the ceiling which guards inside could fire through to kill raiding armies. These will be seen later on.

I then used a fob provided with the audio set to gain entrance to the gatehouse, where I started the inside portion of the tour in the dark basement— by myself.

From here, I got to peek into a privy, where they had a guy sitting on the loo. Sorry, no photos of that. But then I got to climb all the way to the top and go out a door for some outside photos of the area. It was raining but still impressive.

After the tour, I popped into a couple of shops as I made my way back to the station. The train was on time in both directions. There was a fun mural in the Tunbridge Wells train station highlighting significant moments in their history.