there was a local legend that was maintained for centuries after the battle that the soil in the area turned red after a heavy rainfall. {{poemquote|.."Asten once distained with native English blood; Whose soil, when yet but wet with any little rain, Doth blush, as put in mind of those there sadly slain, When Hastings' harbour gave unto the Norman powers. Whose name and honours now are denizened for ours. That boding, ominous brook !"<small>From Michael Drayton's Poly-Olbion 1612Drayton. Taken from the 17th Song of Poly-Olbion from the complete works. p. 229. Retrieved 24 November 2014</small>}} Freeman suggested that Senlac meant Sand Lake in Old English, with the Norman conquerors calling it in French Sanguelac. Freeman regarded that use as a pun because the English translation of Sanguelac is "Blood Lake". The name "Senlac" Several historians disagreed with the Freeman analysis. John Horace Round published his "Feudal England: Historical Studies on the XIth and XIIth Centuries" in 1895 in which he strongly criticised the Freeman view. He pointed out that Senlac was not an English word and was simply a fad, if not an invention of Orderic Vitalis. The Norman chroniclers William of Jumièges and William of Poitiers, who were contemporary with the battle, did not record the site of the battle as Senlac, and the Chronicle of Battle Abbey simply recorded the location in Latin as Bellum (Battle).Searle. The Chronicle of Battle Abbey. pp. 34-35 Later documents, however, indicate that the abbey had a tract of land known as Santlache (Sandlake) with the name Sandlake continuing for several centuries as a tithing in Battle.Harris. Battle: Historic Character Assessment Report. pp. 15-17Searle. The Chronicle of Battle Abbey. pp. 62-65 Etymology Freeman considered what Orderic Vitalis called the battlefield, Senlac, may have been a corruption of the original Anglo-Saxon name. Other scholars have suggested that the Anglo-Saxon form would have been scen-leag meaning "beautiful meadow".Stephen Charnock. On certain Geographical Names in the County of Sussex in Report of the forty second meeting British Association for the Advancement of Science. p. 177 Retrieved 23 November 2014 A further possibility of Senlac comes from the iron rich sandstone deposits within the local area and the local Wealden iron industry that started before the Roman invasion and carried until the late 1700's. Some have posited that the original Saxon name could also have been Isen-Lacu'', which means "iron pond". It is possible that the