The new location is revealed today as part of English Heritage’s major £1.8m re-presentation and conservation of the 1066 battlefield and abbey, in this the 950th anniversary year of the most famous and arguably the most important battle in English history.

Battle Abbey was founded by the victorious William the Conqueror on the site of the battlefield, as penance for the blood shed that day. Historic sources from the early 12th century state that the abbey’s church was built “on the very spot where according to tradition, among the piled heaps of corpses Harold was found”, with the high altar located “where the body of Harold (slain for the love of his country) was found.” New advances in our understanding of the layout of the abbey’s church reveal that the site of this altar was further east than previously thought (1).

The existing memorial stone has now been moved to this new location, to coincide with the opening of a new exhibition and two previously unseen areas on Friday 15 July 2016.

As part of English Heritage’s re-presentation of the site, visitors can, for the first time, climb 66 steps to the top of the Abbey’s Great Gatehouse and stand on its roof, getting a whole new, 360-degree perspective on the surrounding landscape where fierce fighting raged on 14 October 1066. And for the first time, visitors can also access – through the original 13th century doorway – the abbey’s huge dormitory where the Benedictine monks once slept.

Also from Friday, a new exhibition inside the Great Gatehouse gives a blow-by-blow account of the battle, from the very different preparations of the opposing forces the night before to the final outcome. Beautifully carved oak figures – including a Norman knight on horseback and an axe-wielding Anglo-Saxon warrior – are installed across the battlefield, evoking the two armies and the drama of the battle.

As part of English Heritage’s major conservation programme across all the sites in our care (the largest in our history), vital work has been undertaken to the site including the restoration of the spiral staircases, specialist repairs to the stonework of the monks’ dormitory, and conservation of the Victorian dairy and ice-house.

Kate Mavor, English Heritage’s Chief Executive, said: “In 1066, two armies met on this field in East Sussex and the outcome defined England for centuries. To understand how Harold lost, why William won, and what that meant for the country, a visit to the battlefield is a must. Highlighting the location where Harold fell and opening up these new spaces means that people can discover more about one of the most important battles in our history.”

Roy Porter, Senior Properties Curator for English Heritage, said: “Sources tell us that the high altar of the abbey church was built on the exact spot where Harold fell. Working out the position of that altar was key and since the 19th century, our understanding of the layout of the church has improved dramatically. What was previously marked as the spot was close but we now know it stood slightly further east.

“This new location adds to our understanding of the Battle of Hastings but also gives us a valuable insight into William’s abbey, a fascinating story in its own right – and one we’ll be exploring further in future.”

The newly re-presented 1066 Battle of Hastings, Abbey and Battlefield opens to the public from Friday 15 July 2016.

1. From at least the early 12th century the site of the high altar at Battle Abbey was identified as the spot where King Harold's body was discovered after the Battle of Hastings In his Deeds of the Kings of England, William of Malmesbury wrote that the abbey’s church was built “on the very spot where according to tradition, among the piled heaps of corpses Harold was found”, with the high altar located – according to the Chronicle of John of Worcester – “where the body of Harold (slain for the love of his country) was found.”

The location of the high altar was lost when the abbey church was demolished after the suppression of the abbey in 1538 and the ground on which it stood cultivated as a garden. In 1817, an excavation revealed a crypt which marked the east end of the church and, mindful of the link between the high altar and the location of Harold's death, contemporaries regarded this newly discovered feature as marking the place where Harold fell. They were unaware that the abbey church had been extended in the mid-13th century and that the exposed crypt stood about 25 metres to the east of the end of the church founded by William the Conqueror, now King William I. Until the rediscovery of the east end of the Norman church in 1929 the accepted site of Harold's death was therefore some distance away from the location marked by William's church.

As part of the re-presentation of the abbey in the early 1980s the plan of the Norman church was laid out and a marker stone placed at the east end to show the general location of the high altar. English Heritage has moved this stone approximately 6 metres further to the east to more accurately mark the location of the high altar. This reflects our understanding that within Romanesque great churches the high altar was placed on the chord of the apse, in other words on the line where the semi-circular end of the church began to curve.

2. Visitors to the 1066 Battle of Hastings, Abbey and Battlefield will also meet interpreters playing the part of a Norman knight and Saxon lady at weekends throughout the summer and discover updated exhibits in the visitor centre. Children can enjoy the new artisan-made wooden play space.

3. As part of its 1066: Year of the Normans programme, English Heritage is marking the 950th anniversary of 1066 with events across the country this summer, including a re-enactment of King Harold’s march from York to Battle in autumn, culminating in the annual re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings on 15-16 October at the battlefield site. For more information, visit www.english-heritage.org.uk/1066