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Authors: Jim Bradbury
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lecturing and noticed that Allen was gently snoozing in the front row. When it came to question time, a difficult point was put to him and, with malicious glee, he retorted, ‘ ALLEN ! [waking him up] what do you think about that?’
The lectures at the main conferences were most valuable and are of course recorded in the Anglo-Norman Studies journal, commencing in 1978 and continuing after Allen’s death under the editorships of Marjorie Chibnall, Chris Harper-Bill, John Gillingham and Chris lewis. But even more valuable, to my mind, have been the social occasions: the sherry parties at the abbey and above all the drinking sessions in The Chequers, the pub next door. Who could forget in that hostelry seeing Allen Brown and Raymonde Foreville replaying the battle of Hastings on the bar billiards table, or Cecily Clark selecting her horses for the day? Numerous interesting day-trips were organised during the conferences, and these too hold many happy memories.
Pyke House was also the venue for various student trips. The attraction, of course, was in the first place its position on ‘the battlefield’ of Hastings, the back garden being the best surviving slope of the hill. Here I spent many enjoyable weekends, often with students from other institutions, sharing the lecturing with friends such as Ann Williams, Chris Harper-Bill and Brian Golding, of what were then North London Poly and Strawberry Hill, and what is still Southampton University. My companion from West London on these trips was often Nick Kingwell, who would generously submerge his fifteenth-century interests to participate in these eleventh-century celebrations.
A memory that slips unbidden into one’s mind is of waking in one of the pleasant bedrooms at Pyke House to open the curtains and watch the sun rising over ‘the battlefield’, of quietly going out to tramp through the dewy grass. I have always been an early riser and liked to walk into Battle to buy a Guardian , an Observer , or latterly the Independent . On many an early morning I would pass others out for their early morning constitutional, most memorably Brian Golding, the fanatical bar billiards player, whose pace at walking was twice that of any other person I have known. I accompanied him on an hour’s walk one morning, but only once. On other occasions one remembers Ann Williams’ or Christine Mahany’s dogs diving into the muddy pools at the foot of the hill.
A lasting memory of Battle and Pyke House is of my friend Ian Peirce. Ian seems to have been at almost all these events: conferences, student weekends, East Sussex weekends. Sometimes indeed I shared with him the teaching of a course on the Norman Conquest. But always, usually without any recompense beyond a drink in The Chequers, Ian would perform for an audience, bringing his collection of medieval weapons, his own constructions of weapons and armour and his expertise on the subject for the benefit of all and sundry. Many, like myself, must have gained from the experience of being dressed as a Norman warrior, and I have embarrassing photos to prove it in many cases, from Simon Keynes and Marjorie Chibnall to Dominica Legge, who had to be rescued as she tottered down the hill under the weight of the armour.
In short, this for me is a book of many memories, nearly all pleasant. I should like also to thank all those involved at Sutton Publishing, at whose suggestion this book was written, in particular Roger Thorp and Jane Crompton, and for their patience and care in seeing it through; and Clare Bishop for all her hard work in editing and assembling in the final stages. For all the many other friends at Battle and elsewhere whose names I have failed to recall or mention, thanks too, and may we raise another glass in The Chequers one day soon.
Jim Bradbury
Selsey 1997
Revised 2009
N OTES
Abbreviations Used
ANS
Anglo-Norman Studies
Bayeux Tapestry
The Bayeux Tapestry , ed. D.M. Wilson, London, 1985
BL
British
The lectures at the main conferences were most valuable and are of course recorded in the Anglo-Norman Studies journal, commencing in 1978 and continuing after Allen’s death under the editorships of Marjorie Chibnall, Chris Harper-Bill, John Gillingham and Chris lewis. But even more valuable, to my mind, have been the social occasions: the sherry parties at the abbey and above all the drinking sessions in The Chequers, the pub next door. Who could forget in that hostelry seeing Allen Brown and Raymonde Foreville replaying the battle of Hastings on the bar billiards table, or Cecily Clark selecting her horses for the day? Numerous interesting day-trips were organised during the conferences, and these too hold many happy memories.
Pyke House was also the venue for various student trips. The attraction, of course, was in the first place its position on ‘the battlefield’ of Hastings, the back garden being the best surviving slope of the hill. Here I spent many enjoyable weekends, often with students from other institutions, sharing the lecturing with friends such as Ann Williams, Chris Harper-Bill and Brian Golding, of what were then North London Poly and Strawberry Hill, and what is still Southampton University. My companion from West London on these trips was often Nick Kingwell, who would generously submerge his fifteenth-century interests to participate in these eleventh-century celebrations.
A memory that slips unbidden into one’s mind is of waking in one of the pleasant bedrooms at Pyke House to open the curtains and watch the sun rising over ‘the battlefield’, of quietly going out to tramp through the dewy grass. I have always been an early riser and liked to walk into Battle to buy a Guardian , an Observer , or latterly the Independent . On many an early morning I would pass others out for their early morning constitutional, most memorably Brian Golding, the fanatical bar billiards player, whose pace at walking was twice that of any other person I have known. I accompanied him on an hour’s walk one morning, but only once. On other occasions one remembers Ann Williams’ or Christine Mahany’s dogs diving into the muddy pools at the foot of the hill.
A lasting memory of Battle and Pyke House is of my friend Ian Peirce. Ian seems to have been at almost all these events: conferences, student weekends, East Sussex weekends. Sometimes indeed I shared with him the teaching of a course on the Norman Conquest. But always, usually without any recompense beyond a drink in The Chequers, Ian would perform for an audience, bringing his collection of medieval weapons, his own constructions of weapons and armour and his expertise on the subject for the benefit of all and sundry. Many, like myself, must have gained from the experience of being dressed as a Norman warrior, and I have embarrassing photos to prove it in many cases, from Simon Keynes and Marjorie Chibnall to Dominica Legge, who had to be rescued as she tottered down the hill under the weight of the armour.
In short, this for me is a book of many memories, nearly all pleasant. I should like also to thank all those involved at Sutton Publishing, at whose suggestion this book was written, in particular Roger Thorp and Jane Crompton, and for their patience and care in seeing it through; and Clare Bishop for all her hard work in editing and assembling in the final stages. For all the many other friends at Battle and elsewhere whose names I have failed to recall or mention, thanks too, and may we raise another glass in The Chequers one day soon.
Jim Bradbury
Selsey 1997
Revised 2009
N OTES
Abbreviations Used
ANS
Anglo-Norman Studies
Bayeux Tapestry
The Bayeux Tapestry , ed. D.M. Wilson, London, 1985
BL
British
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