Stone marking the spot of the high altar at Battle Abbey, where Harold died.

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In 1070, Pope Alexander II ordered the Normans to do penance for killing so many people during their conquest of England. In response, William the Conqueror vowed to build an abbey where the Battle of Hastings had taken place, with the high altar of its church on the supposed spot where King Harold fell. William started building it, dedicating it to St. Martin, sometimes known as "the Apostle of the Gauls," but died before it was completed. Its church was finished in about 1094 and consecrated during the reign of his son William known as Rufus. William I had ruled that the church of St Martin of Battle was to be exempted from all episcopal jurisdiction, putting it on the level of Canterbury. Walter de Luci became abbot in 1139 and made several improvements. During the reign of Henry II of England rival church authorities at Canterbury and Chichester unsuccessfully tested the charter. The church was remodelled in the late 13th century but was virtually destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538 under King Henry VIII.

Source: Wikipedia