News
HISTORY NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2025
Our Next Lecture
The annual Commemoration Lecture on Thursday 16th October will be “The Lived Experience of Conquest” delivered by Professor David Bates. The meeting will be held in the Wynne Room at the Memorial Hall in Battle High Street and will start at 7.30pm.
Lecture Recordings
Whenever possible, a recording of our monthly lecture is made available for a week after the meeting on the Society’s private YouTube channel. A link to the recording, once available, is sent to all members who are asked to treat the link as personal to them and not to share it. These arrangements are part of the Society’s agreement with lecturers and should be respected.
While the Society will provide a recording whenever it can, there are occasions when it is not possible; some lecturers withhold permission for recording and technical issues can sometimes intervene.
Date for Your Diaries – AGM and Lecture
The November meeting of the Society will be on Thursday 20th in the Wynne Room at the Memorial Hall, Battle High Street. The meeting will start at 7pm when the BDHS Annual General Meeting will be convened.
This will be followed by the monthly lecture, “Klein Hollandia” which will be delivered by Mark Beattie Edwards. It is expected that this will begin at approximately 7.30pm. Members arriving for the lecture are asked to recognise that the AGM may be in progress when they enter the Wynne Room and to take care not to disrupt the proceedings.
Full details of the 75th anniversary season’s programme are available here.
Christmas and 75th Anniversary Event
The December meeting of the Society will be a social event to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the BDHS and will be for members only.
The Battle of Hastings Re-enactment at Battle Abbey
The annual re-enactments of the Battle of Hastings staged at the Abbey by English Heritage will this year be on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th October. The BDHS will again have a display, along with other societies in the Lower Dorter building, showcasing its work and offering its publications for sale. Our member, Tina Greene, will also be inviting visitors to the event to help in adding stitches the La Mora Tapestry which she is preparing for the 1000th anniversary of William the Conqueror’s birth in 2027. She will be working in the Beggar’s Hall by kind permission of Battle Abbey School. If you are planning to attend the re-enactment, do call by and add a stitch or two of your own.
Battle Museum
If you haven’t visited Battle Museum of Local History yet this season, there’s still a chance to call in and view its collection. There you can also buy the Museum’s 2026 Calendar featuring the month-by-month events of the year of the conquest – the perfect gift for anyone inspired by King and Conqueror to learn more of the true history of 1066.
The Museum will be open until Saturday 8th November, the day of the Battle Bonfire.
History in the News – a digest of recent reporting
If any member spots an interesting history article, just email its details, or scan of it, to webadmin@battlehistorysociety.com and we’ll feature an edited version of it in the next Newsletter.
‘Extraordinary’ Roman helmet found in the sea off Sicily: A treasure trove of metal artifacts, including a bronze Roman military helmet in an “extraordinary state of preservation,” has been recovered from the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, researchers say. The helmet was likely lost in the Battle of the Egadi Islands (also known as the Aegates Islands) in the First Punic War in 241 BCE. The ‘Montefortino’ helmet is one of the most complete ever recovered. This style of helmet was introduced to the Romans by the Celts and was a popular armour choice from the fourth century BCE to the first century CE. Notably, the helmet has a small knob on the top where plumes were attached and also had a projecting bill and hinged cheek plates. At least six other helmets recovered from the Egadi Islands are also thought to be associated with the Punic War battle.
On March 10, 241 B.C., the ancient city-state of Carthage (located in modern-day Tunis, Tunisia) and Rome engaged in the Battle of the Aegates, islands off the west coast of Sicily. According to the ancient historian Polybius, although the Carthaginians outnumbered the Roman army, the Romans were better trained and defeated them. As a result, Carthage surrendered Sicily, and the First Punic War came to an end after 23 years.
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/romans/extraordinary-roman-helmet-from-war-ending-battle-found-in-the-sea-off-sicily
‘Incredibly rare’ carving of a face: Archaeologists believe they may have unearthed an “incredibly rare” stone carving of the face of a person who lived in Fife more than 1,000 years ago. University of Aberdeen student Jodie Allan made the find while volunteering at an archaeological dig at an ancient hillfort at East Lomond, near Falkland. Prof Gordon Noble, who helped lead the excavation, said the 12cm (5in) long object could be Pictish and appeared to have two eyes, a nose and a hairline. He said: “If it really is a human face it’s nice to think it could be a rudimentary portrait of a local Pict who lived at East Lomond.” The word “Pict” comes from the Roman name “Picti”. It was a term first used about 1,700 years ago during the Romans’ occupation of the British Isles. Based on archaeological evidence, the Picts inhabited parts of Scotland for about 600 years.
Since 2022, archaeologists have been excavating a major settlement dating back to the Roman Iron Age and Pictish times on the southern slopes of East Lomond. Ms Allan made her discovery while sieving soil excavated from an early medieval building. She said: “I had no idea I was holding anything significant. “But I took a closer look because of its size and because the colour – a sort of oxidised coppery green – caught my eye.” Prof Noble added: “We need to get this fully analysed but it appears to be a carving of a face and resembles some of the human faces you see in early medieval manuscripts. It is incredibly rare to have a representation of a human face in this time period.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx20nzdwxkpo
First prisoner-of-war camp site opens to public: What is believed to be the first purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp, dating from the Napoleonic Wars, is now open to the public. The Norman Cross Camp in Yaxley, just south of Peterborough, housed about 7,000 French prisoners and dates back to 1796. The historic site, bought by the Nene Park Trust this year, has been brought back to life with new information panels, videos, and digital tools which help give an overview of what the camp once looked like. Norman Cross was designed as a self-contained town with barracks, a hospital, a school, a marketplace, and banking facilities. It was located inland, in a fertile region, far from both the sea and potential invasion routes, which made escape or returning to France difficult. Prisoners were transported from the ports of Great Yarmouth, King’s Lynn, Wisbech and Boston to Yaxley, Stanground or Peterborough, and then marched the few miles to the camp. It was believed that up to 2,000 former combatants were buried at the site, including French and Belgian soldiers and some of the British troops that guarded the campsite.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9dx065p2jgo
The History of Hastings’ White Rock Baths: Early in September, the world’s top BMX riders gathered in Hastings for an action-packed competition at “Source Park”, the largest underground skatepark in the world in what was once the largest underground heated swimming pool in England. It was built in the late 1870s as part of the White Rock Baths, which, together with its rooftop promenade and the adjacent new Hastings Pier, helped turn Hastings into a major tourist attraction. The Baths were constructed on more than an acre of beach leased from Hastings Council by a local company set up in 1875. The first part of the Baths, containing the record-breaking swimming pool (for men), was opened in 1878, followed by the smaller women’s pool in 1879, plus other facilities in 1880 and Turkish baths in 1882. But the high construction and running costs of the Baths were far more than had been budgeted for, and the company had to be rescued by major investments from local MP Thomas Brassey.
A mortgage taken out in 1897 could not be repaid when the following years saw a serious depression in Hastings and the company went bust in 1911. For the next four years the Baths were run by a retired colonel who introduced mixed bathing for the first time. In 1915 the lease was transferred to two London businessmen who made minimal investments, and eventually Hastings Council took over the Baths in 1925. But the whole Baths building was in a very poor state, suffering severe dampness from being both underground and next to the regularly-battered sea wall. By 1930 the deterioration was so bad that from 1931-34 the Borough Engineer Sidney Little, “The Concrete King”, had to almost completely rebuild them. The Baths were a major attraction until 1939. They reopened after the Second World War in April 1945, and in following years they remained popular although a permanent financial loss to the Council. The Turkish baths for good in 1947. In 1967, the structure of the 1930s Baths was deteriorating quickly and the Council began a search for a new site. Temporary repairs were carried out but in 1976 the Council decided to build a new sports complex on Bohemia Road, which opened on 18 August 1980. The Baths closed the day before.
https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/community/the-history-of-the-white-rock-baths-hastings-5287632
Online Archive Update – September 2021
Exciting news! We now have a great new resource available online. The original Battle Town Index, identified by advisers from the National Archives as potentially the most important item in our archive, was recorded on a series of Index cards. Members of our Society started the Index with the aim of recording information on the use and occupants of all the buildings in the town centre. Information, gleaned mainly from trade and other directories, was recorded up to the early 1990s. The online version of the Index has been edited so that beyond 1940 only information on businesses and a few private individuals reasonably assumed now dead have been included in the online version. This complies with the recommendations of the National Archives on publication of material which is covered by the Data Protection Act. It still, however, provides a wealth of information and is found in our online archive as a series of searchable .pdf files. Go to our archive page The Battle & District Historical Society Archives http://bdhsarchives.com and search for Battle Town Index to see the available .pdf files. When you have downloaded the file you can find the search function by clicking on the magnifying glass symbol and entering your search term.
Website news
The British Library is going to archive our website in the UK Web Archive and to make it publicly available via that route. The UK Web Archive was established in 2004 to capture and archive websites from the UK domain and across the web, responding to the challenge of a digital black hole in the nations memory. It contains specially selected websites that represent different aspects of UK heritage on the web, as well as important global events. We work closely with leading international institutions to collect and permanently preserve the web, and the open UK Web Archive can be seen at http://www.webarchive.org.uk/.
Also an on-line version of the BDHS Journal for 2019 has been added – see Previous BDHS Journals
Meet our new President
Our new President, Professor David Bates, gave his inaugural lecture entitled ‘Writing a Biography of William the Conqueror’ at a very well attended meeting on 16 January. His presentation was well received and afterwards David had the opportunity to meet many members of the Society and be photographed with all members of the BDHS Committee. He also gave another lecture – by Zoom on 15th October. This was about ‘New thoughts on the Bayeux Tapestry’.
Meeting with the new Dean of Battle
The new Dean of Battle, the Very Reverend Lee Duckett, together with his wife Ange, has been presented with some books from BDHS members Keith Foord and Tina Greene, which are concerned with the Church and the Battle Tapestry, currently on display there. BDHS hopes to develop some mutually beneficial projects based on the church’s archives and the use of the church environmental space for exhibitions etc..
The Dark Ages’ greatest Christmas relics were at Battle Abbey
The Guardian and other media have reported that a medieval manuscript listing Battle Abbey’s relics has been analysed and transcribed for the first time by English Heritage historian Michael Carter. It reveals that the relics were the most prestigious given to any abbey, more significant even than those at Westminster Abbey.
A report on this can be found at https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/dec/18/a-bit-of-manger-st-nicholass-bone-the-dark-ages-greatest-christmas-relics.Michael Carter’s paper can also be found in full using this reference: Carter, M: The Relics of Battle Abbey: A Fifteenth-Century Inventory at The Huntington Library, San Marino The Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies 8 (2019)
Video: The Battle of Hastings. No – the Battle of Battle!!
BDHS Members Michael Hodge, Alan Judd and Peter Greene, working in close cooperation with Natasha Williams of English Heritage, have produced a video explaining where the Battle of Hastings actually took place and why we have a town called Battle. The video has been released by Mirador Television and can be found via Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDe8uyKXL9Y
Amazing find by BDHS
In the process of changing over BDHS archivists Gina Doherty and David Sawyer unexpectedly turned up an old small parchment that appeared to originate from Abbot Richard Tovey of Battle Abbey in 1493. Christopher Whittick of ESRO confirmed its authenticity This is a ‘pass’ entitling the carrier to travel freely in England and quoting the old charter rights of the abbey. Gina has produced an excellent summary of this find which can be read in Section A3.4 of Collectanea. BDHS has also given a facsimile copy to Battle Abbey for future display.
L-R: Neil Clephane-Cameron, Keith Foord, George Kiloh, Gina Doherty, Natasha Williams (English Heritage) handing the parchment to Christopher Whittick (Vice-President of BDHS). Picture Peter Greene