Hastings

Edward, 1st Baron Thurlow

O moon, that shinest on this heathy wild
And light'st the hill of Hastings with thy ray,
How am I with thy sad delight beguiled,
How hold with fond imagination play!
By thy broad taper I call up the time
When Harold on the bleeding verdure lay,
Though great in glory, overstained with crime,
And fallen by his fate from kingly sway!
On bleeding knights, and on war-broken arms,
Torn banners, and the dying steeds you shone,
When this fair England and her peerless charms,
And all but honour, to the foe were gone!
Here died the king, whom his brave subjects chose,
But, dying, lay amid his Norman foes.

The location of the battle of Hastings in 1066 has ever after been called Battle. The Normans built an Abbey there to commemorate the victory and the green hill of the battlefield is popular tourist destination.


Main Location:

Battle of Hastings, Battle, East Sussex, England

The poet Edward, 1st Baron Thurlow