Who were the main players?

The Battle and District Historical Society will be putting on a special set of 
lectures; and Concorde 1066 are organising the events of Friday 14th October, the 950th Anniversary of the Battle.

There will be a march and display by a military band and local groups, a service in St Mary’s and a civic celebration.

Battle Town Council are keeping a list of local events for 2016.

Contact Andy Beams to add your event…..

We’ll publicise events on his list!

This month in 1065

In this first article, we introduce the main players

Edward the Confessor: youngest son of Ethelred the Unready, by 1065 he had been on the throne for over 22 years and was without an heir

The Godwinesons: the most powerful family in the land and by this point the real rulers. Brothers Harold, Tostig, Leofwine, Gyrth and Wolfnoth were brothers-in-law to Edward; their sister Edith was Queen.

Duke William of Normandy: he was now secure in Normandy.

The threat of invasion from the King of France and from Anjou was lifted; and he had just hosted Harold Godwineson in Normandy, where he swore to uphold William’s claim to the English throne.

Why Harold did this is disputed: had he been sent by Edward the Confessor?

Or had he gone to secure the liberation of two of his kinsmen, long detained by William?

Was he tricked into swearing the oath?

It is impossible to be certain but swear the oath he did.

Secrets from the 
Archive

On display in the Museum (Mon- Sat 10-4.30 admission £2 for adults, accompanied children free ) is the Women of Battle exhibition .

It not only shines a light on the struggle in Battle for women’s votes.

It also shows that women controlled much of the High Street’s businesses in the 1860’s.

It contains a WI Scrapbook from 1952 which describes Battle life in that year.

A folder containing 
copies of the 84 pages are available at the admission desk.

Curious Facts about Battle

The Historical Society Research group is investigating the Memorial Hall’s history. Briefly the workhouse in the early eighteenth century, it used to be called Langton House.

The latest research suggests that the building may have been called Langton House before the Langton family were involved with it. Perhaps Langton is a corruption of Langdon.

There was an Edmund Langdon of Battle who died in 1610 a wealthy man, and….Battle’s only astronomer!