The rearguard site after Hastings was Malfosse, a name meaning “Evil Ditch.” Medieval accounts place it among the battlefield’s ravines or ditches where English survivors made a final stand after the main battle had turned in William of Normandy’s favour.
The incident came after the long fight on 14 October 1066. As the English position collapsed, Norman troops pursued retreating soldiers. Some Englishmen regrouped in difficult ground and struck back, reportedly drawing Norman knights into the ditch. The episode is associated especially with accounts by later medieval writers, including Orderic Vitalis.
Malfosse is easily confused with Senlac, the ridge where Harold’s army initially formed its shield wall, or Caldbec Hill, another nearby battlefield landmark. Wallingford was also important in the wider conquest, but it was a town where English leaders later submitted to William, not the rearguard site described here. The exact location of Malfosse remains debated, because the surviving accounts were written after the battle and do not provide a modern map reference.