For Hours, Harold’s Shield Wall Held. Then the Battle of Hastings Turned

For Hours, Harold’s Shield Wall Held. Then the Battle of Hastings Turned

On the morning of the 14th of October 1066, Harold Godwinson and William of Normandy finally faced one another.

Harold positioned his army on high ground near what is now Battle in East Sussex. His men fought on foot, packed closely together behind overlapping shields. At the centre were Harold’s housecarls, experienced warriors armed with heavy two-handed axes.

William had a different sort of army. He could use archers, infantry and mounted knights, but to reach Harold’s men they had to attack uphill.

The battle appears to have begun at around nine o’clock in the morning.

Norman archers fired towards the English position before infantry and cavalry moved against the shield wall. William launched successive attacks, but the English line continued to hold.

At one point, part of William’s army began retreating and a rumour spread that William himself had been killed. According to Norman accounts, William rode forward and showed his face to reassure his men that he was still alive.

Some English soldiers left the safety of the ridge to pursue the retreating Normans. William’s men turned on them.

Norman accounts describe later retreats being used deliberately to tempt more Englishmen away from their defensive position. It did not immediately destroy the shield wall, but after hours of fighting Harold’s army was gradually being worn down.

The fighting continued for most of the day, which in itself shows just how difficult the English position was to break.

Late in the day, William’s army launched another fierce assault.

Harold was killed during the final stages of the battle, although exactly how he died remains uncertain. The famous story that an arrow struck him in the eye is only one version of his death and cannot be treated as certain.

With Harold dead and the English line finally breaking, survivors began to flee.

By the end of the 14th of October, William had won the Battle of Hastings, but he had not yet been crowned King of England. His path from the battlefield at Hastings to Westminster was another part of the story.

If Harold’s men had stayed completely behind their shield wall, do you think the result might have been different?

Bayeux Tapestry, Battle of Hastings: Norman knights and archers, 11th century. Public domain/CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

They Were Living Under Occupation - But Not Everyone Was Willing to Obey Quietly

They Were Living Under Occupation - But Not Everyone Was Willing to Obey Quietly

Over the past few days, I have been following what happened in the Channel Islands after the German occupation began in the summer of 1940.

But what was it actually like for the Islanders who stayed behind - and did they resist?

Resistance did not take the form of a large armed underground movement. The islands were small, heavily garrisoned and isolated from Britain. Open defiance could bring imprisonment, deportation or worse.

Much of what happened was therefore far quieter.

When wireless sets were ordered to be surrendered in 1942, some Islanders hid theirs. Listening to the BBC was forbidden, but people still found ways of hearing the news and passing it on.

In Jersey, Canon Clifford Cohu was one of those involved. News obtained from secret wireless sets was written down and circulated, and Cohu passed information to others, including patients at the hospital. He was eventually arrested and deported and did not survive the war.

Some of the ways people kept themselves informed were remarkably inventive. Jersey radio engineer Bernard Holley secretly repaired wireless sets for Islanders. One remarkable crystal radio preserved by Jersey Heritage even had some of its parts hidden inside the shell of a walnut.

In Guernsey, the Guernsey Underground News Service - GUNS - secretly produced and distributed news gathered from BBC broadcasts. Those involved knew the risks they were taking. Several were eventually arrested and sent to prisons on the continent.

Some Islanders also took much greater personal risks to help others.

In Jersey, Louisa Gould helped to hide Fyodor Burriy, a Russian forced worker known to her as Bill. She was arrested and deported and later died at Ravensbrück.

Resistance could also take much smaller forms - forbidden news passed between neighbours, patriotic symbols and V signs painted in public places.

For the Islanders who stayed behind, these were often small acts, but the consequences of being caught could be enormous.

Next time, I want to look at the prisoners and forced workers who were brought to the Channel Islands - who they were, where they came from and what happened to them.

Image: German occupation notice concerning the V-for-Victory campaign in Jersey, June 1941. Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Victorian London Had a Railway for the Dead - And Mourners Travelled With Them

Victorian London Had a Railway for the Dead - And Mourners Travelled With Them

I have been finding out about some of the more unusual ways the Victorians dealt with the enormous growth of London, and this has to be one of the strangest.

By the middle of the 19th century, London had a serious problem. Its population had grown rapidly, and many of its old burial grounds were overcrowded. One proposed solution was to create an enormous new cemetery well outside the capital, and Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey was the result.

It was around 25 miles from central London, which created another difficulty. Coffins, relatives and entire funeral parties still had to make the journey there.

So when Brookwood opened in November 1854, the London Necropolis Company operated a special funeral railway from a dedicated station near Waterloo. Coffins were placed in hearse carriages, while relatives and friends travelled in passenger carriages on the same train. Victorian class divisions followed them too, with different classes of accommodation provided for passengers and different classes for the transport of coffins.

After leaving London, the train travelled along the main railway before branching into Brookwood Cemetery itself. There were two stations within the grounds: one serving the northern, nonconformist section and another serving the Anglican section.

The first burials at Brookwood took place on the 13th of November 1854.

For families using the service, a funeral could begin in London and continue almost entirely by rail. Mourners travelled with the coffin to Brookwood, attended the burial and then returned to the capital afterwards.

The railway was a practical answer to Brookwood’s distance from London, giving funeral parties a direct route from the capital into the cemetery.

The Necropolis Railway continued operating for decades, although by the 20th century it was being used far less often. In 1941, the London terminus was damaged during an air raid, and the special service was never restored.

For almost ninety years, this unusual railway connected London directly with Brookwood. Thousands of families used it not as a curiosity, but as part of an ordinary funeral. Today the trains have gone, but parts of their route through the cemetery can still be traced.

Had you ever heard of a railway built to carry the dead?

Image info: 

Brookwood Cemetery North railway station, c.1911. Kingsway Real Photo Series. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

For Months, Food Could Not Simply Be Sent Into the Channel Islands

For Months, Food Could Not Simply Be Sent Into the Channel Islands

As many of you know, over the past few days we have been finding out more about the Channel Islands during the German occupation.

Last time, we looked at just how serious the shortages had become by 1944. This time, I wanted to find out if people were going hungry, why did help take so long to arrive?

The answer was that getting food into the islands was not just a matter of loading a ship and sending it across.

By late 1944, the Channel Islands were still occupied by German forces. Britain wanted to keep the garrison isolated, but the civilian population also needed help. Any relief plan therefore had to satisfy both military and humanitarian concerns.

The British government also wanted assurances that food sent for civilians would not be taken by the occupying forces. For several months, discussions took place involving the island authorities, the German occupiers, the British government and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

An agreement was finally reached in early November 1944.

The German authorities agreed that the relief supplies would be for civilians and gave assurances that they would not be confiscated or interfered with. Britain, in turn, agreed to allow a relief ship through the exclusion zone around the islands.

The vessel chosen was the Swedish ship SS Vega.

She sailed from Lisbon carrying Red Cross supplies and reached St Peter Port, Guernsey, on the 27th of December 1944.

Her cargo included 119,792 standard food parcels, 4,200 special dietary parcels, soap, salt, cigarettes, medical and surgical supplies and some children’s clothing.

After unloading in Guernsey, Vega continued to Jersey, reaching St Helier on the evening of the 30th of December, with unloading beginning the following day.

This was not Vega’s only visit. She made six voyages to the Channel Islands in total, including one after liberation.

What interested me most about this story was that the arrival of the food was only the final stage. Before a single parcel could be unloaded, months of negotiation had taken place simply to make the relief mission possible.

Did you know that bringing Red Cross supplies into the Channel Islands had required this much negotiation?

Image info:

St Peter Port and harbour, Guernsey, c.1890–1900 - Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division / Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.

Mary Was Dead - But Elizabeth Insisted This Was Not What She Had Intended

Mary Was Dead - But Elizabeth Insisted This Was Not What She Had Intended

On the 8th of February 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots was executed at Fotheringhay Castle.

Elizabeth I had signed Mary's death warrant only a week earlier, on the 1st of February. But when she learned that the execution had actually taken place, she responded with anger and presented herself as deeply distressed.

This is where the story becomes particularly difficult to untangle.

Elizabeth had hesitated for months over Mary's fate. Executing an anointed queen was an enormous step, and Mary was also the mother of James VI of Scotland. Keeping Mary alive presented one set of dangers, but killing her could create an entirely different political problem.

After Elizabeth signed the warrant, it was passed under the Great Seal. Davison then brought the matter before senior members of the Privy Council, who decided to proceed. On the 3rd of February, Robert Beale was commissioned to carry the warrant to Fotheringhay.

By the 8th of February, Mary was dead.

Elizabeth then maintained that events had gone further than she intended.

Davison suffered heavily in the aftermath. He was sent to the Tower and later tried in the Star Chamber, where he was fined 10,000 marks. Although he was eventually released, his active career at court was effectively over.

But Elizabeth now had to deal with Mary's son.

On the 14th of February, she wrote to James VI of Scotland. In that letter, Elizabeth expressed her grief and insisted that his mother's execution had happened contrary to her intention.

Exactly how far Elizabeth intended the signed warrant to lead directly to Mary's execution remains disputed.

What we do know is that within days of Mary's death, Elizabeth was insisting that events had not unfolded as she had meant them to.

Do you think Elizabeth genuinely believed her councillors had gone too far, or was she trying to distance herself from Mary's execution afterwards?

Image: Elizabeth I, the Armada Portrait, c.1588, artist unknown. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

By the Winter of 1944, Hunger Was Tightening Its Grip on the Channel Islands

By the Winter of 1944, Hunger Was Tightening Its Grip on the Channel Islands

For years, the people of the Channel Islands had lived with rationing, shortages and the need to make do under German occupation. By 1944, though, the situation was becoming much more serious.

The islands depended heavily on supplies from outside, and throughout much of the occupation food had continued to arrive from France. Then came the Allied landings in Normandy on the 6th of June 1944.

As Allied forces advanced through France, those supply routes were gradually cut.
By August, the Channel Islands were effectively isolated.

Food was becoming desperately scarce. Gas and electricity supplies were increasingly unreliable, fuel was difficult to obtain and the remaining food had to be stretched further and further.

People used whatever substitutes they could find.

Parsnips could be turned into cake. Bramble leaves could make a substitute for tea. Salt became so difficult to get that seawater was sometimes used to cook vegetables.

Bartering became increasingly important too. Eggs, vegetables and other items could be exchanged for things that were no longer available in the shops.

By late 1944, the shortages were becoming dangerous.

The German garrison was also cut off from its normal supplies, while thousands of civilians still remained on the islands. Eventually, negotiations allowed humanitarian aid to be brought in by the International Red Cross.
On the 27th of December 1944, the Swedish-flagged SS Vega, chartered by the International Committee of the Red Cross, arrived at Guernsey carrying desperately needed food and medical supplies.

After unloading in Guernsey, she continued to Jersey at the end of December.

Among the Red Cross parcels were things many islanders had scarcely seen for years: tea, sugar, milk powder, butter, biscuits, chocolate, tinned meat and fish.

After years of rationing and making do, these were foods many families had rarely been able to get.

The Vega returned several more times during the final months of the occupation, bringing further food and medical supplies to the islands.

When we think about occupation, it is easy to picture soldiers, bunkers and barbed wire. But much of the hardship happened quietly, inside ordinary homes, where families had to work out how to make one more meal from whatever they had left.

Can you imagine opening one of those Red Cross parcels after years of shortages?

Image info:
Guernsey communal feeding centre, May 1945. National Archives and Records Administration / Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.

William Had Landed -Then He Waited for Harold to Come to Him

William Had Landed -Then He Waited for Harold to Come to Him

By the time Harold Godwinson began making his way south, William of Normandy was already establishing himself in Sussex.

William had landed at Pevensey on the 28th of September 1066, just three days after Harold’s victory at Stamford Bridge. His men established a temporary fortification within the old Roman defences there before William moved east towards Hastings.

At Hastings, another castle was established and the town became William’s base. From there, his army began taking provisions from the surrounding countryside. An invading force needed huge amounts of food. Thousands of men had to be fed, horses needed fodder and supplies brought across the sea could only last for so long.

The countryside around Hastings suffered badly. Farms were plundered and property was destroyed as William’s army secured what it needed. Historians have suggested that this destruction may also have helped provoke Harold into coming south and confronting the invaders.

William certainly had good reason to want a battle sooner rather than later. Remaining in Sussex for weeks would have brought its own dangers. Supplies could begin to run short, and sickness might spread through the army.

Harold was in a very different position. He was fighting in his own kingdom and had the possibility of gathering more troops if he waited.

After defeating Harald Hardrada and his own brother Tostig at Stamford Bridge, Harold returned south and paused in London, where more men joined him. English accounts suggest that Harold had not assembled all the forces potentially available to him before confronting William.

By the evening of the 13th of October, the two armies were close to one another.

Less than three weeks earlier, Harold had defeated another invading army in Yorkshire. Now another claimant to the English throne was waiting for him in Sussex.

On the morning of the 14th of October 1066, the Battle of Hastings was about to begin.

Do you think Harold should have waited longer for more men, or was confronting William quickly the right decision?

Image: Detail from the Bayeux Tapestry, 11th century. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.