the body of Harold II. was discovered on the awful field of slaughter.  The sixty monks who started the monastery were brought over by William from the Benedictine monastery of Marmontier in Normandy.  They were granted many extraordinary privileges, including the right of treasure-trove.  A further privilege was given to the abbots in the form of authority to pardon any sentenced criminal whom they might chance to meet on the road.  The abbey was not completed until after the death of William the Conqueror.

On the left, as one goes through the great gateway, are the portions of the abbey which have been converted into the house which was, until her death, the home of the Duchess of Cleveland.  At right angles to these buildings runs a terrace, from which one looks towards the sea across the battlefield on which was decided one of the most momentous issues which have affected the English nation.

One must have read Lord Lytton’s Harold to fully realise the tremendous pathos of the struggle to the death between the English and the Normans.  The green facing the great gateway has half hidden on its surface an old bull ring.  In wet weather this is scarcely discoverable, the ring being easily hidden in the small puddles of water which accumulate.

[Illustration:  Photochrom Co., Ltd.

THE GATEWAY OF BATTLE ABBEY.

The high altar of Battle Abbey was placed exactly over the spot where the body of Harold II. was discovered after the battle of Senlac Hill.]

CAMBRIDGE

=How to get there.=—­Train from St. Pancras or Liverpool Street. 
  Great Eastern Railway.
=Nearest Station.=—­Cambridge. =Distance from London.=—­55-3/4 miles. =Average Time.=—­Varies between 1-1/4 and 2-1/2 hours.  Quickest train,
  1 h. 13 m.

                     1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=—­Single 8s. 9d. ... 4s. 7-1/2d. 
          Return 15s. 10d. ... 9s. 3d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=—­“Bull Hotel,” “Lion Hotel,”
  “University Arms Hotel,” “Hoop Hotel,” “Bath Hotel,” etc.
=Alternative Routes=.—­From Euston by L. and N.W.  Railway. 
  From King’s Cross, Great Northern Railway.  From St.
  Pancras, Midland Railway.

Cambridge shares with its sister university, Oxford, the honour of being one of the two most ancient seats of learning in Great Britain.  The town itself is of very remote origin, and stands on the site of the Roman station Camboricum, on the Via Devana.  By the Saxons, Cambridge appears to have been known as Grantabrycge, which was probably later abbreviated into Cantbrigge.  The true history of the town as a university began at the opening of the twelfth century, when Joffred, Abbot of Crowland, sent over to Cottenham, near Cambridge, four monks, who, in a hired barn, started their teachings, which soon became excessively popular.  The first regular society of students was founded in 1257.