Battle – Britain's most famous battlefield

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Our view

"Take a walk into history and visit the field where two men famously fought each other for the English crown."

Walk directions

Turn left out of the car park and follow the track to a gate. Keep left along the bridleway beside woodland, the path swinging left to a fingerpost and junction of paths. Bear left with the 1066 Bexhill Walk marker and walk down the field-edge and through two gates. Keep ahead, soon to cross a drive via two gates, and follow the fenced path along the field-edge high above the road.

Cross the B2095 (taking care on the dangerous bend), walk along Telham Lane and take the private road right towards Peppering Eye Farm. After the farm, keep to the metalled drive for 0.5 miles (0.8km), passing under power cables and crossing a stream to ascend to a junction of paths by Powdermill Cottage. Turn left along a track through the trees to a gate, and bear left with the waymarker across a field.

Cross a footbridge to enter Fore Wood RSPB Nature Reserve. Bear right and follow the yellow-arrowed route through the wood, ignoring a path on the left and turning right at the far side of the wood where the path curves left at a bench. Go left at the fingerpost, cross a footbridge and follow the path right through scrub, parallel with the stream. On reaching an open field, keep left around the field-edge to leave at the top left corner. Cross a track and carry on along an overgrown and rough path in a wooded area, past a pond that is just about visible down to the left. This passes another larger pond, then soon emerges into a field; keep going straight ahead along the field-edge.

Reach a junction of tracks and bear left, then immediately right at a fork, curving left around a pond to emerge from the woodland by pheasant pens. Turn right up a grassy unwaymarked track 20yds (18m) before the pens. Soon enter woodland and continue to a footbridge. Turn left to a stile, then right along the field-edge passing a pond, and head across the field in line with distant barns, passing beneath power cables.

Beyond the next gateway, bear diagonally right downhill across the field to a gate and go forward up a track. Just before the barns, climb the stile on the right to follow the arrowed path around Millers Farm to reach a gate just before the brick farmhouse. Rejoin the track and follow it for 0.5 miles (0.8km).

Cross a road, pass beside a gate and follow the path through Powdermill Wood. Cross a footbridge and go along a fence by Farthing Pond, at the end of which fork left uphill along a narrow path through woodland to a kissing gate. Cross the field, aiming to the right of a cottage to reach another kissing gate. Turn right along a track, go through a gate and follow the 1066 Country Walk uphill through a field. Retrace your outward route back to the car park.

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Location

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Field and woodland paths, some road walking, several stiles

Landscape - Gently undulating farmland and woodland

Dog friendliness - Enclosed woodland paths and stretches of 1066 Country Walk suitable for dogs off lead

Parking - English Heritage car park at Battle Abbey

Toilets en route - Mount Street car park in Battle

Walks in East Sussex Dog-friendly walks in East Sussex

About the walk

One of the most important and significant events of the last millennium, the 1066 Battle of Hastings represents a defining moment in British history. Visit the battlefield and you can still sense something of that momentous day when William, Duke of Normandy, defeated Harold and his Saxon army and...

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Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

Find out more

Walking in Safety

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

Learn more

Get an AA guide

Explore our range of ‘50 Walks in’ guides - they’re the ideal companion for a ramble.

Learn more

About the area

East Sussex is a land of stately homes, castles and the South Downs, with miles of chalk cliffs overlooking the English Channel. For history buffs, there are a great many historic landmarks within Sussex, such as the battlefield where the Battle of Hastings took place, or visitors can enjoy pretty towns such as Lewes, Rye and Uckfield and the city of Brighton.