Battle Abbey (East Sussex): This is the site of the famous Battle of Hastings (fought on Oct 14, 1066), in which the Normans defeated King Harold's English army. William the Conqueror built a great commemorative abbey here; the high altar of its church was erected over the spot where Harold fell in battle. The abbey was destroyed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, in 1538. A plaque now identifies the place where the altar once stood. Some ruins and buildings remain, about which Tennyson wrote, "O Garden, blossoming out of English blood."

Hastings Castle (Hastings, East Sussex): Now in ruins, this was the first of the Norman castles erected in England (ca. 1067). The fortress was defortified by King John in 1216. An audiovisual presentation of the castle's history includes the famous battle of 1066.

Rye (East Sussex): Near the English Channel, and flourishing in the 13th century, this "Antient Cinque Port" was a smuggling center for centuries. Writer Louis Jennings once wrote, "Nothing more recent than a Cavalier's Cloak, Hat and Ruffles should be seen on the streets of Rye." It's one of England's best preserved towns.

Dunster Castle (Somerset): This castle was built on the site of a Norman castle granted to William de Mohun of Normandy by William the Conqueror shortly after his conquest of England. A 13th-century gateway remains from the original fortress. In 1376, the castle and its lands were bought by the Luttrell family and remained in their possession until the National Trust took it over in 1976.

Warwick Castle (Warwickshire): One of the major sights in the Midlands, little remains of William the Conqueror's motte and bailey castle of 1068, but much of its external structure remains unchanged since the mid-1300s. Today, Warwick Castle is the finest medieval castle in England, lying on a cliff overlooking the Avon River. Its most powerful commander in the 1400s was the earl of Warwick, who, during the War of the Roses, was called the "Kingmaker." One of the best collections of medieval armor and weapons in Europe is behind its walls.

Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal (southwest of Ripon, in North Yorkshire): These ruins evoke monastic life in medieval England. In 1132, Cistercian monks constructed "a place remote from all the earth." Explore the ruins as well as the Studley Royal, whose lavish 18th-century landscaping is one of the few surviving examples of a Georgian green garden.