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Designations

• Registered Park or Garden (II) 1000309: BATTLE ABBEY
• Registered Battlefield 1000013: Battle of Hastings, 1066
• Conservation Area: BATTLE
• Scheduled Monument: BATTLE ABBEY

Summary

The nave of the abbey church, begun c 1071 and the original chancel of the Norman abbey church was excavated by Sir
Harold Brakspear in 1929. Excavated in 1817, the eastern crypt was constructed in the later thirteenth century to accompany the new choir which enlarged the original Norman abbey church.

Monument Types

• LINEAR FEATURE (Unknown date)
• CHURCH (AD 11th Century to AD 16th Century - 1000 AD to 1599 AD)
• PIT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• FOUNTAIN (AD 19th Century to AD 20th Century - 1800 AD to 1999 AD)

Description

The plan has been prepared to inform the conservation and management of the buildings, park and battlefield at the English Heritage property of Battle Abbey. The plan outlined that English Heritage should comply with the legal and procedural requirements for scheduled monuments, listed buildings and conservation areas, together with best practice in the management and presentation of the non-statutory registered battlefield, archaeological notification areas, and registered historic park. The wider setting of the site within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the policies in the High Weald AONB Management Plan 2014-2019 should always be considered in any actions. Best professional practice and English Heritage’s own advisory documents should be followed at all times. There are three particular subject areas that should be at the forefront of this approach within the plan period archaeological investigation and recording, the presentation of the building and the landscape and the wider setting of the property. [1]
Work on the abbey church begun within a few years of the Conquest, c. 1071. The chancel would have been erected first, with construction progressing westwards to the crossing, transepts and finally the nave. Although the church was consecrated in 1094, it is quite possible that the nave had yet to be completed at that time. When built, the nave was seven bays in length with vaulted aisles, but little is known of its appearance. The only depiction prior to its thorough demolition shortly after 1538 may be on the abbey’s twelfthcentury seal, which should not be taken as an accurate representation. It shows a broad west front with a single central doorway flanked by blind arcades and a pair of tall slender towers. The crossing has a tower as do, apparently, the transepts. The chancel would have been amongst the first parts of the monastic church to be completed prior to its consecration in 1094, probably as early as 1076, the earliest recorded use of its altar (Hare 1985, 20). The rest of the church would then have been constructed incrementally, one bay at a time, extending to the west.In the later thirteenth century the modest chancel to the original Norman church was replaced with a much enlarged choir of seven bays, terminating in an apsidal east end with five radiating chapels and a crypt . It is dated with reference to Henry III’s similar work at Westminster Abbey, from where it may have been derived, together with the mid-thirteenth-century example at Hailes Abbey (Gloucestershire). The choir was demolished along with the rest of the abbey church following the Dissolution, and its stones used by Sir Anthony Browne to construct his grand new lodgings and possibly to level the adjacent courtyard. It is therefore possible that architectural fragments of later thirteenth- or fourteenth-century date discovered nearby in the late 1970s once belonged to the choir or crypt, including part of a Purbeck marble tomb chest. [2]
Further information [3]
Excavation by Sir Godfrey Webster of the 13th century crypt at Battle Abbey, carried out in 1817 during the Fifth Baronet's occupancy of the Abbey between 1810 and 1820. [4]
Construction of a carriageway by Sir Godfrey Webster across the south aisle of the church, reducing the ground level by seven feet revealed a number of tombs and coffins. [5]
Harold Brakspear carried out an excavation between 1929 and 1935. This significantly refined existing knowledge of the ground-plan of the abbey, including the Norman chancel, chapter house, Refectory, kitchen, north transpent, parlour and South wall of guesthouse undercroft. He also re-excavated the 13th century crypt. [6]
An evaluation was carried out at Battle Abbey School towards the West front of the church and ground to the North West. Stepped foundations & shaft base of West door were recorded. Evidence for the Northern Arcade and internal floors as well as significant worked stone were also recorded. [7]
An evaluation of three machine-excavated trenches north of the school revealed the exterior face of the west wall of the demolished abbey church, together with mortar screeds interpreted as construction deposits. Elsewhere on site, a number of successive levelling deposits of medieval date were cut by at least three pits filled with demolition rubble, two of probable 16th-century date relating to post-Dissolution sand extraction, and one of later date possibly associated with early 19th-century levelling during the construction of adjacent stables. Later garden soils sealed these rubble deposits, and included part of a Victorian fountain. Finds were sparse but included several disarticulated pieces of human bone and a medieval broad-head arrowhead. [8]
A watching brief was carried out on the area of the church Nave ahead of a new workshop for Battle Abbey School. A substantial North-South linear cut was encountered, but not excavated. [9]

Sources

Associated Events

• ST MARTIN'S ABBEY/BATTLE ABBEY, Battle : Excavation (Ref: EI 633)
• Battle Abbey Nave, High Street, Battle : Excavation
• ST MARTIN'S ABBEY/BATTLE ABBEY, High Street, Battle : Excavation (Ref: EI 634 and EL 636)
• Battle Abbey School, Battle Abbey, High Street, Battle : Evaluation
• Battle Abbey School, Battle Abbey, High Street, Battle : Evaluation
• New Workshop, Battle Abbey Nave, Battle Abbey, High Street, Battle : Watching Brief

Associated Monuments

• MES3355 - Part of: Battle Abbey, Battle : Norman/Medieval Abbey (Monument)

Associated Finds

• HUMAN REMAINS (Unknown date)
• ARROWHEAD (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

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