The manors laid waste by William the Conqueror in 1066AD

This map is designed to show the relative population size and the damage caused to the villages around the Hastings area in 1066AD.

The Motte and Bailey Fort is constructed and the villages destroyed please click here to visit Reading Museum for further details of Britains Bayeux Tapestry.

Looking at the map it would seem that the majority of the 'Wasted' villages start in the Filsham valley then spread out toward the extremeties of the Hastings peninsular following the old Roman Roads/Trackways.
'Wasted' is a term used in the Domesday Book to describe villages that were totally destroyed by the invasion in 1066AD.

Looking to the West, it can be seen that only a couple of small villages near Pevensey were 'wasted' which implies that the main landing didn't take place on the Pevensey side of the Estuary, although there was some damage caused to the villages along the old Roman Road from Pevensey to Lewes.

The implication of this map is that the main Norman landing occurred along the coast between Bexhill and into the Filsham valley, this is likely dueto the tides along the Sussex coast. It is also likely as the Normans must have known about the safe harbour at Hastings(Filsham Valley) due to imports/exports along the Sussex coast.

It may nowadays seem unlikely that this was the old Hastings harbour as its a long way from modern Hastings, however the valley was used by the Romans to export pig iron to Gaul so it must have been a deep water harbour then, and until the storm in 1286AD which blocked the Rother at New Romney, and probably sea access to the Filsham valley it is likely that this was the main port of Hastings.

The Rother valley appears to have been scouted as Salehurst, Drigsell and Higham were wasted, this means that William knew about the old Roman road to Gravesend, which in turn means that if Harold had been travelling down this road that the Norman scouts would have easily been able to watch his progress and the Battle would most likely have been fought in the Sedlescome area with the Saxons having to fight uphill.

Because of the above argument it would seem likely that Harold would have come down the London to Lewes road, cut through the forest of Andredsweald via the old ridgeway track from Crowborough to Netherfield, which would have made it more difficult for William to track his progress.