Bosham
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Bosham (pronounced Boz-ham) is a small, coastal village and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England, situated three miles (5km) west of Chichester on an inlet of Chichester Harbour.
Bosham is colloquially divided into two halves: Old Bosham and New Bosham. New Bosham comprises the more developed northern half situated around the A259 road and the railway line and is still known by the increasingly obsolete Broadbridge. Old Bosham includes the remaining geographical protrusion to the south and is the site of the original village.
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[edit] History
[edit] Roman
The site has been inhabited since Roman times, and is close to the famous villa at Fishbourne. The Romans were responsible for the village's Mill Stream as there was no fresh water, and built a basilica there.
[edit] 7th century
Bede mentions Bosham in his book The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, speaking of St Wilfred's visit here in 681 where he encountered a Celtic monk, Dicul, and five disciples in a small monastery.
[edit] Church
In 850, the original village church was built on the site of the Roman basilica, and in the tenth century was replaced with Holy Trinity church, situated beside Bosham Quay, that still serves as the local place of worship. The body of a young girl, discovered in a small Saxon coffin when the church floor was being renewed in 1865, is thought to be that of Gunhilda of Denmark, daughter of Canute the Great, who allegedly drowned in the Bosham Mill Stream, and he may have contributed to the building work.[1]
Canute had a palace in the village, probably where the Manor House now stands or possibly at the harbour edge. Legend has it that Bosham was the site at which he commanded the waves to "go back", so as to demonstrate to his overly deferential courtiers the limits of a King's powers.
The village is one of only five places that appear on the map attached to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of around this time.
[edit] Harold
Bosham is mentioned by name in the Bayeux Tapestry, referring to the 1064 meeting of Harold and Edward the Confessor on the way to meet William of Normandy to discuss who would succeed Edward to the throne:
- "Ubi Harold Dux Anglorum et sui milites equitant ad Bosham"
- (Where Harold, Earl of the English, and his army ride to Bosham)
Harold's strong association with Bosham and the recent discovery of a Saxon grave in the church has led some historians to speculate that King Harold was buried here following his death at the Battle of Hastings, rather than Waltham Abbey as is often reported. A recent bid to exhume a grave in Bosham church was refused by the Diocese of Chichester in December 2004, the Chancellor ruling that the chances of establishing the identity of the body as Harold II were too slim to justify disturbing a burial place.[2]
[edit] Norman
The Domesday Book lists Bosham as one of the wealthiest manors in England. It included the nearby village of Chidham.
[edit] Reference
- ^ A poem on this legend.
- ^ In re Holy Trinity, Bosham [2004] Fam 124 - decision of the Chichester Consistory Court regarding opening King Harold's proposed grave.
[edit] External links
