The Hastings Battlefield

Abstract

Despite the scene of the most famous military engagement on British soil, the location was not primarily thought of as a battlefield until the twentieth century. In the centuries that followed 1066, the site had become a religious center, a private home, and a day trip destination for seaside vacationers. In addition to the reuses of the physical location, the memory of the battle also was retooled for the modern age. In the 1900s, Britain rebranded the events of 1066 to continually reaffirm its relationship with France, an ally in both world wars who shared imperial decline in the postwar period. The ownership of the property also suggested British decline as a new-moneyed American purchased the estate in the early twentieth century. The preservation of the site, however, was only secured after some historically minded Americans that purchased the site and donated it to the British state.