{"id":17934,"date":"2022-08-04T12:55:08","date_gmt":"2022-08-04T10:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=17934"},"modified":"2022-08-04T12:55:08","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T10:55:08","slug":"walk-in-conqueror-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/2022\/08\/04\/walk-in-conqueror-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Walk in conqueror country"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Sam wanders through gently swaying fields of buttercups on Tent Hill on the 1066 Country Walk, a recently revamped 31-mile trail that celebrates over 1,000 years of tumultuous and fascinating East Sussex history <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Walk in conqueror country<\/h2>\n\n

Almost 1,000 years ago, on these now sleepy fields, war raged. Sam Pyrah <\/strong>explores the idyllic 1066 Country Walk, through countryside once plundered by invading Norman troops <\/p>\n\n

Photos: James Ratchford<\/p>\n\n

I\u2019m lying on my back, thinking of England. The England, specifically, that existed before William, Duke of Normandy, landed his troops at Pevensey and marched into the most famous English battle of all time.<\/p>\n\n

In 1066, the field in which I\u2019m sprawled \u2013 a stone\u2019s throw from that historic landing point \u2013 would have been underwater. Today, it\u2019s swaying with buttercups and the air is filled with the song of skylarks and the drowsy hum of bees. The sea has retreated by more than a mile over the past 700 years, and one of its parting gifts is the Pevensey Levels, a 3,600-hectare biodiversity-rich expanse of flatland and fen, through which the 1066 Country Walk meanders. <\/p>\n\n

This 31-mile trail tells the story of the Norman invasion as it weaves across East Sussex from Pevensey to Rye, but it isn\u2019t just a march in William the Conqueror\u2019s footsteps. The route reveals myriad layers of Sussex history through its landscapes, settlements and monuments. Pevensey Castle is a good example. Built by the Normans within the walls of a 3rd-century Roman fort, it witnessed centuries of battles and sieges before falling into ruins, only to be resurrected as a coastal defence during the Second World War, with pill boxes added and troops residing within its walls.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

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From atop Tent Hill, Sam keeps a lookout for marauding armies marching across the High Weald <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

The 1066 Walk isn\u2019t new, but it was relaunched last year with new signage and information boards \u2013 and the addition of 10 beautiful wooden sculptures inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry and created by local artist Keith Pettit. <\/p>\n\n

Even if you\u2019re no history buff, the route showcases the best of the East Sussex countryside: rolling hills and steep-sided valleys, wildflower meadows and ancient woodland. With the small town of Battle marking the halfway spot, the walk divides neatly into two days with an overnight stop. <\/p>\n\n

WILDFLOWERS ON THE WEALD <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Leaving the ghost seas of Pevensey Levels behind, I climb north towards the distinctive shingled spire of All Saints Church. It once served the residents of Herstmonceux, but when Sir Roger Fiennes built Herstmonceux Castle in 1441, he relocated the village so he could enclose the surrounding land. <\/p>\n\n

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Bright red waymarkers signal the route, from Pevensey to Rye <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

The moated castle \u2013 of which you will get a fantastic view from the trail \u2013 was not only the largest private home in England at the time but one of the most fashionable, being built from brick at a cost of \u00a33,800. <\/p>\n\n

I follow the trail along the border of Wartling Wood, where red campion and bluebells spill out on to the path. The temperature climbs along with the gradient, and I\u2019m only too happy to pause in the cool refuge of a sunken lane to watch two speckled wood butterflies dance and spiral one another in a shaft of dappled light. <\/p>\n\n

But it\u2019s a more expansive vista that stops me a mile further on at Boreham Street: a billowing patchwork of green stretches off into the distance, seamed with shaws and hedgerows and scattered with oasts, farms and sleepy villages. This is the High Weald, designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In the Domesday Book (1086), it was recorded as the most forested area in England.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Woods, wildflowers and ancient buildings have been plentiful thus far. What I haven\u2019t seen is people. Given that the south-east of England is one of the most densely populated parts of the UK, I\u2019m surprised to have encountered just one dog walker and two runners since I set off. <\/p>\n\n

When I stop for lunch at the Ash Tree Inn at the fabulously named hamlet of Brown Bread Street, I\u2019m keen to chat. <\/p>\n\n

At the bar, the waitress doesn\u2019t know why Brown Bread Street is so named, but when she brings my ample-portioned lunch a little later, she has found out that it is because there was once a flour mill here. Place names often reveal past uses \u2013 Sussex is full of Furnace Lanes, because of its once-thriving iron ore industry. <\/p>\n\n