1538 Dissolution of the Abbey, which is then occupied as a private residence
by Sir Thomas Browne, Henry VIII’s Master of Horse
16th/17th Century Many buildings to be seen today appear, for example the
Almonry, Pyke House, the Bull Inn, the Deanery
1676 John Hammond of Battle is licensed to establish a powder mill on the
‘Peperynge Lands’. The town's gunpowder industry lasts two hundred years
c 1680 Clockmaking commences in Battle
1789 First nonconformist chapel is built
1812 Closure of the last Sussex ironworks at Ashburnham near Battle
1816 Visit by the Duke of Wellington who is entertained at Battle Abbey
1830/31 The testimony of 112 Battle citizens helps to acquit William Cobbett
when he is charged with seditious libel
1840 Battle Union workhouse in North Trade Road is built
1845 National and Langton Schools constructed
1850 Cresy Report improves town's sanitary conditions
1852 Railway station opens
1900 Waterworks at Powdermill Lane opens
1966 Queen Elizabeth II visits for the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings
1066 Battle is formed after the Battle of Hastings, in support of the Abbey that
William the Conqueror has built on the site of his famous victory
1095 The Abbey is consecrated
12th Century St Mary’s Church built
1210 First mill recorded
1246 First jail recorded
1251 First schoolmaster recorded
Mid-13th Century Battle becomes a centre for leather processing and working
1348 The Black Death halves the population. The Abbey has 52 monks in 1347
but only 34 in 1351/2
1377 Abbott Hamo de Offington beats off the French
1420 The Pilgrims’ Rest is rebuilt