Re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings

In 1070 Pope Alexander II ordered that the Normans do penance for the killings of 1066. As a result William had built a great abbey on the site of the battlefield (Battle Abbey), with the high altar of its church on the spot where Harold fell. The abbey was not consecrated until 1094, remodelled in the 13th century, and is now ruined. English Heritage runs an annual re-enactment of the battle upon the battlefield in front of the abbey remains.