Harold's army marched through the night before the Battle of Hastings and bivouacked on the ridge at Caldbec Hill, at the junction of several ancient routes. The army rested without adequate preparation or scouting, and William's dawn advance caught them before they could choose a more defensible position. The apple tree on Caldbec Hill served as the army's muster point, and local tradition identifies it as the original intended site of Battle Abbey.
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