From the terrace promenade, there is a commanding view of the vast site where the most decisive of English battles, the Battle of Hastings, was fought. It was on this ridge that Harold deployed his men after their exhausting forced march from York. On the far side of the swampy valley were ranged their Norman enemies as well as their French and Breton allies, who had arrived from their nearby beachhead at Hastings. The day-long battle was fierce and bloody.