News
HISTORY NEWSLETTER APRIL 2025
Next Lecture
The next talk is ‘Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders’ by Dr Nathen Amin at 7.30 pm on Thursday 10 April, Wynne Room, Battle Memorial Hall. Please note the earlier than usual date for this lecture and be aware that Battle High Street is expected to be closed to traffic from 7pm. Mount Street and its car park will be open. A video of the lecture will be circulated soon after on the Society’s private YouTube channel.
Date for the Diary : ‘Napoleon’s obsession: the invasion of England’ by Hugh Willing at 7.30 pm on Thursday 15 May, Battle Memorial Hall. Full details of this year’s programme are 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
The Museum is now open for the season – why not pop in and see what is new? There are still vacancies for volunteers, so you are interested in volunteering this season, please make contact via the museum website http://www.battlemuseum.com.
Recently-Published Articles on Collectanea
Maria Soane School Certificate from Battle and Langton
3.1 School Certificate of Maria Soane
History of Battle Arts Festival
1.2 Battle Arts Festival
1911 and 1921 census
1.3 Comparison of 1921 and 1911 census data for Battle High Street
Table 1
Table 2
History in the News
Sutton Hoo Mask: a detectorist on the Danish island of Taasinge has found a small metal stamp with similar markings to those on the famous helmet, which suggests that the helmet may have originated in Denmark rather than Sweden as previously thought. While the pattern on the stamp is not identical, there are many similarities eg the horses are the same. The curator of the local museum believes that Taasinge may have been the home to a 7th Century metal workshop – a thin sheet of silver, possibly used for producing foils, and other metal scraps have been found in the area. If this is the case, then it could change the understanding of the balance of power in 7th Century northern Europe, potentially putting Sweden and England on the periphery of a central Danish power base. Ms Howarth, of the The National Trust, however, is more sceptical, pointing out that ‘it’s quite a lot to pinpoint exactly
the relationship and power dynamic that was existing between Denmark, Sweden and the community at Sutton Hoo at this time, just based on one find’.
‘Unprecedented’ Iron Age Hoard: the Melsonby Hoard includes more than 800 items, including two cauldrons or vessels, a horse harness, bridle bits, ceremonial spears and 28 iron tyres, which are believed to have been buried about 2000 years ago. Historians believe the find could lead to a re-evaluation of the wealth and status of the elite living in northern Britain at the time. Many of the items had been broken: the destruction of so many high-status objects demonstrates that they were just as powerful as their southern counterparts. No human remains were discovered but it is possible that they were burnt on a funerary pyre. Iron Age experts examining the hoard now have proof that 4-wheeled wagons were used 2000 years ago as well as 2-wheeled chariots and also that Iron Age residents of northern England had trading connections with the continent and growing Roman Empire. Research on the objects is continuing.
Medieval cures: Cambridge University Library has an exhibition on ‘Curious Cures: Medicine in the Medieval World’. It provides a fascinating insight into how ailments were treated. Very few medical practitioners were university-trained and most people relied on monks or friars, barber-surgeons, apothecaries and herbalists, as well as home-based treatments. So, while many of the manuscripts are academic medical textbooks, educated physicians also copied down remedies very similar to ones found in more popular ór folk medicine compilations. As well as cures, there were books such as Elizabeth of York’s 15th century copy of ‘A regime for the Body’ which looks at maintaining and regulating health, such as a balanced diet, getting a good night’s sleep, exercise and rest. The exhibition runs until 6 December 2025.
Smuggling in Battle: Attention has recently been drawn to an affidavit of Thomas Pettit in 1736 (ESRO ref: SAY284) provides interesting information on smuggling activity in the area. He bore witness that, on the 24th October, there were a great many people at the Black Horse in Battle and that, as he knew several of them were smugglers, he assumed that there was going to be a run that night. He went to Hollingdean and hid to watch out for them. At 11,00 pm, he saw two men that he had seen earlier at the Black Horse with a small amount of goods. They stopped for a short while at an alehouse (maybe the Hollington Oak?) and then the remaining 12-15 men of the smuggling gang arrived with more than 20 horses, all loaded with dry goods covered with canvas. Shortly after they left, Pettit heard some gunshots and the gang came back in great confusion. He heard a couple of them suggest they should go to Whatlington to conceal the goods in Turner’s hole (Turner had an alehouse, The Red Lion, next to the mill). He made his way to Turner’s and at 5.00 am the next morning 5 men and a boy arrived with about 7 horses loaded with tea. Pettit reported this to Mr Sansum, the riding officer of Hastings, who seized the goods the following day. He also attested that in March, Thorp Diamond of Mountfield and 9 others assisted in landing 2000 weight of tea – he knew a couple of the men from Sedlescombe but the others were from Hawkhurst and a London gang. He also attested to several other incidents.
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.
The Arts Society Rother Valley (ASRV)
Lectures in the programme include Elizabeth Vigee le Brun: trail blazer, A piece of the Auction: Behind the scenes at an international auction house, David Devant, England’s Greatest Magician: All Done by Kindness, and The Two Gustavs: Mahler and Klimt.
For further details, please check the ASRV website https://www.theartssocietyrothervalley.org.uk or contact Pat Arrowsmith, Membership Secretary, on 07838 214675.
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