The residence of a legendary king was recently discovered in the United Kingdom – all thanks to an 11th century toilet.
Newcastle University announced the discovery of Harold Godwinson’s – aka King Harold II – residence in Bosham, a village on the coast of West Sussex, England, according to a news release published Jan. 28. Harold, one of the subjects of the Bayeux Tapestry, was famously killed in the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
His Bosham residence was depicted twice in the tapestry, but the remnants of the residence were unknown until now. Harold was the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, and he was succeeded by the Norman king William the Conqueror.
Describing the formerly lost site as a “power center,” the university says Bosham was where Harold dined before sailing to France.
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“The Tapestry culminates in Williams’s victory at Hastings, but earlier in the artwork Bosham is shown as the place where Harold enjoys a feast in an extravagant hall before setting sail for France, and again on his return,” Newcastle University noted.
“The location of Harold’s residence at Bosham has never been proved, although it has been suggested that a house in the village — now a private home — stands on the site.”
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By conducting a geophysical survey and analyzing maps and records, historians were able to gather new information about the site, which had been previously excavated in 2006.
In particular, the existence of a latrine within a large timber building suggests that the whole building once belonged to a high-status figure.
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“In the past decade or so archaeologists have begun to recognize a trend in England, beginning during the 10th century AD, for high-status houses to integrate toilets,” the university release explained.
“The discovery of the latrine therefore indicated to the team that the timber building was of elite status, and almost certainly represents part of Harold’s residence illustrated on the Bayeux Tapestry,” the statement added. “The hall was one part of a more extensive complex, that also included a church, which still survives.”
Newcastle professor Dr. Duncan Wright said that he was certain that the site was, in fact, Harold’s Bosham residence, according to the release.
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“The realization 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,” Wright explained. “Looking at this vital clue, alongside all our other evidence, it is beyond all reasonable doubt that we have here the location of Harold Godwinson’s private power center, the one famously depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry.”
University of Exeter professor Oliver Creighton, who was involved in the project, echoed Wright’s sentiment.
“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,” he said.
It is not unusual for 11th-century objects to be discovered in England today.
Archaeologists recently unearthed 1,000-year-old treasure consisting of more than 300 coins. The coins were issued between 1036 and 1044, which predates the Battle of Hastings by two decades.
