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In 1070 Pope Alexander II ordered the Normans to do penance for killing so many people during their conquest of England. So William the Conqueror vowed to build an abbey where the Battle of Hastings had taken place, with the high altar of its church on the very spot where King Harold fell in that battle on Saturday, 14 October 1066. He did start building it and named it Battle Abbey, though he died before it was completed. Its church was finished in about 1094 and consecrated during the reign of his son William Rufus. It was remodelled in the late 13th century but virtually destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII.

Battle Abbey Gateway

In 1070 Pope Alexander II ordered the Normans to do penance for killing so many people during their…

The founding of the cathedral at Exeter, dedicated to Saint Peter, dates from 1050, when the seat of the bishop of Devon and Cornwall was transferred from Crediton because of a fear of sea-raids. In 1107, William Warelwast, a nephew of William the Conqueror, was appointed to the see, and this was the catalyst for the building of a new cathedral in the Norman style. Its official foundation was in 1133.

Exeter Cathedral

The founding of the cathedral at Exeter, dedicated to Saint Peter, dates from 1050, when the seat of…

Waltham Abbey was founded in 1030 and a building was constructed on the site by Harold Godwinson (aka King Harold II). In 1177 the abbey was refounded as an Augustinian foundation. The Augustinian abbey was a popular place for overnight stays with kings and other notables who were hunting in Waltham Forest. It was the last abbey in England to be dissolved, in 1540.

Harold's Church at Waltham

Waltham Abbey was founded in 1030 and a building was constructed on the site by Harold Godwinson (aka…

The Cathedral was founded in 680 with Bishop Bosel as its head. The first cathedral was built in this period but nothing now remains of it. The existing crypt of the cathedral dates from the 10th century and the time of St Oswald, bishop of Worcester. The current cathedral dates from the 12th and 13th centuries.

Worcester Cathedral

The Cathedral was founded in 680 with Bishop Bosel as its head. The first cathedral was built in this…