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Groups & Educational Visits

51 1066 BATTLE OF HASTINGS

ABBEY AND BATTLEFIELD
Map Reference F3
Find Us: StreetMap

Group Bookings: Facilities and Discounts

English Heritage operates a Free Educational Visits scheme granting free admission to over 400 sites for pre-booked educational groups. The Discovery Centre at Battle Abbey is a fun, interactive exhibition for young people. Please call the regional office on 01483 252013 for further details. or email: educ.se@english-heritage.org.uk.

The site is a highly recommended group visit; its unique place in history ensuring wide appeal. Tour the battlefield and abbey and stand on the spot where King Harold met his fate.

NEW FROM OCTOBER 2006FEB 2007: Café serving light refreshments. State-of-the-art displays and an audio-visual presentation in the new visitor building tell the dramatic story of the Battle of Hastings and how England was transformed by this momentous event.

BATTLE ABBEY GROUP VISIT INFORMATION

OPENING TIMES

1st April- 30th September 20076: Daily 10.00 hrs – 18.00 hrs 1st October -– 20th - 31st March 2008: Daily 10.00 hrs – 16.00 hrs.

CLOSED

24th to 26th December 2006 and 1st January 2007.

SITE LOCATION

Located 5 miles inland from the town of Hastings. Take the A2100 off the A21 to Battle, East Sussex. The site is situated to the south end of the High Street, with a payable car park adjacent to the site. The nearest train station is located 1⁄2 mile from the site, with bus connections and services available close by.

COACH PARKING

Parking is at the top of the town in Battle Coach Park, 10 mins walk away

PRICES & GROUP DISCOUNTS

We offer a 15% discount for groups of 11 or more paying visitors, if one person makes payment for the group. You also receive one free place for every additional 20 people in your group, plus free entry for the tour leader and coach driver. English Heritage members are admitted free of charge and do not count towards the group numbers.

NORMAL ADMISSION PRICE

£5.50 per adult;£4.30 per concession; £2.30 per child

Prices increase from October 2006 to: £6.30 per adult; £4.70 per concession; £3.20 per child.

Group of 11 or more paying visitors (after discount): £4.68 5.35per adult; £3.664.00 per concession; £2.38 72 per child.

Carers for visitors with disabilities FREE. English Heritage Members FREE.

GUIDED TOURS

Audio units are available in English, French and German, Dutch, Japanese Spanish and for children, however supplies are limited and the units are not available on special event days. Group leaders may request the audios and relay the information to their groups.

Guided tours are available at an additional cost of £3050.00 per tour (costumed tour - £80) and can accommodate a maximum of 250 people. The tours last approximately 45 minutes.

GUIDE BOOKS

Are available in English at a cost of £3.99. Pre-order to ensure that your guidebooks are ready and pre-packed for your arrival.

DURATION OF VISIT

We advise you to allow 45 minutes2 hours to an hour to visit the site but please allow atleast 1 hour 30 minutesan additional hour if the group plan to go around the battlefield route.

DISABLED ACCESS

Specified disabled parking is allocated at the site car park and there are disabled toilet facilities within the site. The site is predominantly laid to gravel paths and motorised wheelchairs are recommended. There are currently 3 motorised buggies at the site which visitors are welcome to use free of charge; however these buggies cannot be pre-booked and are available on a first come first served basis. Please make us aware of the special needs of any member of your group before your arrival so that we can offer every assistance.

CATERING

Café with hot and cold food. Seats 60 with additional seating outside. Picnics are welcome in the grounds and there are picnic tables situated within the wooded play area. Groups are encouraged to ask the site for rubbish sacks if needed to enable all rubbish to be removed off site.

FACILITIES

The site currently has the following facilities, Shop/Ticket Office, ,Visitor centre with exhibition, auditorium, café and toilets. Abbey museum and battlefield walk. Prelude Centre andmuseum. We have started anexciting project on site to improve our visitor facilities and provide anauditorium, new interpretation, café and toilet facilities; this new visitorcentre is programmed to open in October 2006 and during construction there willbe minimum disruption to visitors.

JOINT TICKETS

With Yesterday’s World or Bodiam Castle. Please call for details.

HOSPITALITY

For details on hospitality please telephone 01424 775705.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Battle Abbey has a variety of special events each year which include the annual re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings on the anniversary in October. Please ask for the current programme if you would like to tie in your visit with a special event. Please note that there may be a supplementary charge for larger events and that audio units are not available on special event days.

Saturday 28th & Sunday 29th April: Battle Abbey 1066 Falconry

Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th August: Battle Abbey Battle of Hastings Boot Camp

Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th October: Battle Abbey The Battle of Hastings

Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th November: Battle Abbey Christmas Shopping Weekend

RESTRICTIONS

Visiting groups should be supervised by the group leaders at all times and we kindly request that groups do not pick the flowers on the site. Large groups may be limited to smaller numbers when congregating in the shop.

NEARBY ENGLISH HERITAGE SITES

You might also like to tie in your visit with a visit to Pevensey Castle which is associated with William the Conqueror and is where he may have sheltered after he landed at Pevensey before travelling onwards to the momentous battle at Battle Abbey. Pevensey Castle can be found just east of Eastbourne at Pevensey Bay, East Sussex.

Bayham Abbey is situated 13⁄4 miles from Lamberhurst Kent and has the impressive ruins of a Premonstratensian abbey founded in 1208 by the French white canons.

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