Battle
a town in Sussex, England, 6 miles N. W. of Hastings. Encircled on three sides by wooded hills, it consists of one street, extending along a valley valley from N. W. to S. E. An unin- Senlac by name, it received its present name from the battle of Hastings, fought here on Oct. 14, 1066, when the Normans, led by William the Conqueror, overthrew the old English monarchy under King Harold.
William, to commemorate his victory, founded in 1067, on the spot where Harold fell, a Abbey, which was endowed with all the land within a league of it, and had the privileges of a sanctuary. Battle Abbey now consists of decorated and perpendicular buildings occupying three sides of a quadrangle two sides in ruins, the third converted into a private dwellinghouse. splendid Benedictine