News
HISTORY NEWSLETTER JULY 2025
Next Lecture
The next talk is ‘Women in Intelligence’ by Helen Fry at 7.30 pm on Thursday 17 July in Battle Memorial Hall. A video of the lecture will be circulated soon after on the Society’s private YouTube channel.
As usual, there will be a break in August but do look out for our exciting programme for the Society’s 75th anniversary year. Details will be provided in August via the Newsletter and the Website. Full details of the new year’s programme will be available here.
Society Facebook Page
Don’t forget to check out the BDHS Facebook page. For those who are Facebook users, please find it at https://facebook.com/BattleHistorySociety or by searching for Battle and District Historical Society when logged into your Facebook account. Remember to like and follow the page to get notification of our posts.
Battle Museum
Why not pop in and see what is new? There are still vacancies for volunteers this season, so if you are interested, please make contact via the museum website http://www.battlemuseum.com.
La Mora Tapestry
Don’t miss your chance to be part of the La Mora Tapestry. Sessions are at Battle Library as follows:
1.00-5.00 pm Fridays
10.00-2.00 pm Saturdays
Christina Greene and her fellow stitchers have already finished the first section and the second section has begun already!
History in the News
Bayeux Tapestry: the big news is of course that the Bayeux Tapestry will be on
display at the British Museum next year, returning to the UK for the first time in over
900 years!
Huge Roman ‘jigsaw’: archaeologists have pieced together fragments of a 2000
year-old wall plaster to reveal remarkable frescoes that decorated a luxurious
Roman villa. The villa was built soon after the Romans founded London in 43AD
and could either have been home to a wealthy family or a hotel for rich travellers
passing through Londinium.
The fragments were discovered at a site in central London and came from at least 20
walls of the building, with beautifully painted details of musical instruments, birds,
flowers and fruits: The discovery is revealing the affluence of the area – the team
terms it ‘the Beverly Hills of Roman London’.
A particular point of interest is that what appears to be a bunch of grapes is now
thought to be mistletoe, a plant that grows locally: Roman painters were taking a
classical idea and putting their own North West European or local twist on it.
A stunning mosaic and Roman cemetery were also unearthed at the site in
Southwark, which was being excavated in preparation for a new development.
3,500-year-old Peruvian city: after eight years of research, archaeologists have
unveiled the ancient city of Penico, which was once a vibrant urban centre that
connected coastal, mountain and jungle communities. It was founded between 1800
and 1500 BC around the same time as early civilisations in the Middle East and Asia
were developing. Researchers have identified 18 structures, including residential
complexes, public buildings and ceremonial temples. Beaded necklaces, clay
figurines of humans and animals, and stone tools such as hammers and anvils have
also been found.
Roman Chariot track: Britain’s only known Roman chariot track was first discovered
in Colchester in 2000, and was identified four years later. It was thought to be
constructed on the orders of Emperor Hadrian who visited Britain in 122 AD and was
probably in full use between the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.
Proposals for developing the surrounding site are currently under discussion and key
figures have united to ensure that the plans complement the site of the track.
Other history articles in the press: If any member spots an interesting history article, just email a scan of it to bdhs66@yahoo.co.uk and we’ll feature an edited version of it in the next Newsletter.
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