Monthly Archives: January 2015

Detail from the Bayeux Tapestry (c.1070) commemorating the last successful invasion of England, by Guillaume le Bâtard (AKA William the Conqueror) in 1066. Halley’s Comet is shown and was claimed as an good omen (by both sides!).

Hastings is a small town on the South Coast of England where in 1066, as every British schoolboy knows, the English King Harold lost the eponymous battle and was killed, thereby allowing a successful Norman invasion.   Actually, of course, the battle took place some miles away, at what is now the town of Battle, but the name has stuck.

Hastings makes a good base for exploring southern Sussex.   It’s more manageable and intimate than its bigger and much brasher neighbour, Brighton, and more determinedly eccentric than nearby Eastbourne.  Rye is more ‘chocolate boxy’ picturesque but lacks facilities and transport links.  It would be hard to find a more authentic (but still pleasant) British experience than Hastings.
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