Senlac Hill

Senlac Hill is the generally accepted location where Harold Godwinson deployed his army for the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066. It is located near what is now the town of Battle, East Sussex. The name Senlac was popularised by the Victorian historian E.A. Freeman based solely on a description of the battle by the Anglo-Norman chronicler Orderic Vitalis. Freeman went on to suggest that the Normans nicknamed the area Blood lake as a pun on the English Sand lake.
It is not improbable that Orderic would have known the English name for Senlac as he spent his early life in England having been born to an English mother. His education, towards the end of his time in England, was from an English monk. However, Freeman's hypothesis has been criticised by other historians as it relies purely on the evidence from Orderic Vitalis. Orderic was born nine years after the Battle of Hastings and chroniclers who were more contemporary with the battle did not use the name Senlac.

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