weapons of that age, yet being made of perishable materials, they would disappear altogether in a very short period.
The position of the Norman army was defined, as resting its left wing on the hill overlooking the powder mills, washed at the base by the Asten ; having its centre near the Battle lake turnpike, and extending its right wing above the railway station, towards Marley Farm , where it would be protected by Bodeherstwood. This position is very distinctly marked out by a roadway from the powder mills till it strikes a path leading towards the railway bridge, thence by another path along the crest of the spur, overlooking the Station.
I then guided our party lower down the slopes of the Abbey grounds, but keeping well to the left hand on the higher ground parallel to the road just named. Here, I said we are gazing on the most open part of the field where cavalry alone could act with effect -- and where tradition has always placed the principal part of the fight. Of the three openings by which alone the Saxon position could be entered we are now opposite the most westerly , -- viz., that on their right: where also the flower of Harold's army, the men of Kent, were posted. Here must have occurred that disastrous repulse of the Normans, which formed the bloodiest incident of that bloody day : and if the Normans gave way in front of the Saxon left, they would fly in disorder right up the slope on which we are now standing : but in the course of their flight, the Normans, we are told , came on a kind of precipice or abyss ;and it is singular that the many writers on this subject have placed this ravine -
