Archaeologists believe they have located the legendary “lost” residence of Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, thanks to a toilet (and thorough research).
Experts suspected that his estate once stood in Bosham, West Sussex, a location famously immortalized in the Bayeux Tapestry. This had never been proven. New evidence surfaced, however, that has brought this unsolved mystery closer to being a closed case.
A team from Newcastle University and the University of Exeter reexamined an earlier excavation project in 2006. It had identified two Medieval buildings, one of which held a toilet, which, interestingly enough, enabled these researchers to confirm that the property belonged to King Harold “beyond all reasonable doubt.”
A toilet proves King Harold once lived on the estate
As part of a larger excavation project to locate and explore former aristocratic centers in England, researchers employed various methods to probe a now private property on which a former church from the 10th century AD still stands.
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After an exhaustive investigation, which included a geophysical survey of the surrounding area, studying the remains, scouring through maps and records, and reopening a former dig, they assembled a detailed profile like never before.
According to a recent press release, they found two Medieval buildings on the property: one integrated into the current house and another in the garden. The previous excavation carried out by West Sussex Archaeology in 2006 had discovered a toilet. However, archaeologists only began identifying this trend in England in the past decade, beginning in the 10th century AD. At this time, it was fashionable for the elite to integrate toilets into their homes.
The toilet might not have alerted archaeologists of the past, but it did communicate to current researchers that someone well-endowed once inhabited these grounds. Found in a large timber building, the hall was attached to a much larger complex, suggesting that Harold resided here before his ultimate demise.
“The realisation that the 2006 excavations had found, in effect, an Anglo-Saxon en-suite confirmed to us that this house sits on the site of an elite residence pre-dating the Norman Conquest. Looking at this vital clue, alongside all our other evidence… we have here the location of Harold Godwinson’s private power centre, the one famously depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry,” says Dr. Duncan Wright, Senior Lecturer in Medieval Archaeology at Newcastle University.
“Hugely significant”as the only example of its kind
King Harold only ruled for nine months. He was killed in the Battle of Hastings in 1066, which ended Anglo-Saxon rule in England. The Bayeux Tapestry depicts Harold’s final moments before William, Duke of Normandy, defeated him in battle. Practically nothing remains of the English aristocracy from that time.
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“The Norman Conquest saw a new ruling class supplant an English aristocracy that has left little in the way of physical remains, which makes the discovery at Bosham hugely significant — we have found an Anglo-Saxon show-home,” concludes Professor Oliver Creighton of the University of Exeter, and Co-Investigator of the project in a press release.
Their research was published in The Antiquaries Journal.
