The Latrine of England's Last Anglo-Saxon King

The Manor House and Latrine of King Harold II

Harold Godwinson became King Harold II, the last Anglo-Saxon King of England. He ruled for less than a year before being killed by an invading Norman army at the Battle of Hastings in October 1066.

Researchers announced in early 2025 that a re-analysis of data from a 2006 excavation has pinned down the location of Harold's residence. It's in Bosham, on the south coast of Britain, southwest of London. It's about sixteen kilometers east of Portsmouth harbor and just five kilometers from the center of Chichester.

Harold's latrine was the key piece of evidence for locating the home and distinguishing it from later surrounding structures. It's a rare example of an elite Anglo-Saxon power center combining residential and ecclesiastical functions.

Holy Trinity Church incorporates structures of a Saxon-era church, which in turn may have been built upon a Roman public building. The large house 80 meters to its northeast (upper right here) as we see it today was built in the post-Anglo-Saxon medieval period and later, dating mostly to the 17th century and later. However, it incorporates a stone wall belonging to an earlier structure which probably was a dwelling, probably dating to 1100–1300 CE. Harold's home, a timber structure that was an elite Anglo-Saxon residence with an attached latrine, was about three-quarters of the way from the church to today's manor house, hidden here by trees.

Castles, or Not

The trend through the 10th century was that castles were mechanisms and signs of control and power in France.

In England, however, if you were of the wealthy nobility you wanted to demonstrate that by living within a complex of halls with an associated church or chapels. All of that would likely be enclosed within a defensive perimeter possibly combining walls, moats, and berms, but it wouldn't be a stone castle as commonly found in France and beyond.

Noble power centers in Anglo-Saxon-era England combined residential, religious, and economic activity. Call them thegnly sites, burhs, or burhgeats, these fortified manor houses they were also conspicuous statements of self-promotion. This is what Harold had in Bosham, and it incorporated an attached latrine, a new trend in England.

Harold the Noble, Not Yet Earl or King

Harold was a son of Godwin, the Earl of Wessex, and Gytha Thorkelsdóttir. His mother Gytha was the daughter of King Sweyn Forkbeard, who was King of Denmark from 986 CE, King of Norway from 999/1000, and King of England for just five weeks from December 1013, accumulating power around the North Sea until his death in February 1014. That meant that Gytha was the sister of King Cnut the Great, who ruled England from 1016, Denmark from 1018, and Norway from 1028.

Harold's father Godwin was initially a supporter of Edmund Ironside, known as Ēadmund in Old English and Játmundr in Old Norse. Edmund was King of the English for just over seven months before being stabbed to death while sitting on the toilet. The assassin had been lurking in the cesspit. Godwin was supporting Edmund's successor Cnut within two years, when Cnut appointed Godwin as Earl of Wessex.

The Archbishop of Canterbury gave the manor of Bosham on England's south coast to Godwin, and Harold eventually inherited it.

Godwin somehow held on to his position as earl through the end of Cnut's reign, one of only two earls to manage that. There was murder and payoffs and exiles and short reigns with Godwin involved as king-maker until Edward the Confessor became King in 1042.

Harold the Earl

In 1045 the new king Edward married Edith, Harold's sister. Edward then made Harold the Earl of East Anglia.

Harold began a relationship with Edith the Fair, the heiress to lands in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, and Essex, parts of Harold's new Earldom. Their relationship was a form of marriage known as More Danico or "In the Danish Manner", something that the Church neither blessed or sanctioned. However, most English laypeople accepted it and any children were considered ecclesiastical bastards but secularly legitimate.

Godwin died in 1053 and Harold inherited the Bosham manor house and succeeded him as Earl of Wessex. This made Harold the most powerful lay figure in England, after the King. As if that wasn't enough, Harold picked up the Earldom of Herefordshire in 1058.

Harold Becomes King

King Edward the Confessor suddenly fell into a coma at the end of 1065. He had not made his preference for his successor clear. According to the Vita Ædwardi Regis, he briefly regained consciousness and commended his widow and his kingdom to Harold's protection. Then he died on 5 January 1066.

The Witan, the Anglo-Saxon king's council of noblemen made up of ealdormen, thegns, and bishops, immediately convened in what was called a Witenagemot. They selected Harold as successor to the throne, and he was crowned on 6 January, probably as the first ruler to be crowned in Westminster Abbey.

Bosham, Bede, and the Bayeux Tapestry

We know that Harold lived in Bosham, a coastal village near Chichester in West Sussex. The site has been inhabited since Roman times, with remains of a possible temple, a theatre, and a mosaic discovered in the area.

The Venerable Bede writing his history, depicted in a codex of 1143-1178 from the Engelberg monastery.

The Venerable Bede described Bosham in 731 in his most famous work, his five-volume Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum or the "Ecclesiastical History of the English People". Bede described the travel of Wilfrid, a fellow Northumbrian cleric. Wilfrid visited Bosham in 681, meeting a Celtic monk named Dicul and five disciples living in a small monastery. The monastery may have been on or near the site of the present-day church.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was assembled from earlier sources in 871–899, probably in Wessex. It included a map on which Bosham is one of only five places labeled.

The original village church was built in 850, possibly on the site of a Roman building.

In the 10th century, Holy Trinity Church was built to replace the original church. It is thought to have been built on the site of a Roman basilica. A basilica or βασιλική was a large public building, typically rectangular with a large central nave flanked by aisles, with its roof higher over the nave and lower over the side aisles. The term has come to be applied to historic churches regardless of their architecture. The original Roman basilica in Bosham was a government building, not a Christian structure.

Saxon remnants of the church still visible today include the chancel arch, the tower arch, and the lower part of the chancel. The chancel was extended in the 12th and 13th centuries, and a sacristy and aisles were added around the 13th century.

The Bayeux Tapestry is an early prototype of the comic book. It's a strip of linen cloth almost 70 meters long and 50 centimeters tall, with embroidery depicting the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest of England in October, 1066. It consists of 58 scenes or panels embroidered with colored woolen yarn, most of the panels with Medieval Latin captions. It was probably commissioned in the 1070s by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, the maternal half-brother of William the Conqueror of Normandy.

Bosham is mentioned by name and depicted twice in the Bayeux Tapestry. This is the only visual representation we have of a lordly power center from pre-Conquest England. It was one of only four places in England named on the Tapestry. Only Bosham, Westminster, and Hastings are shown twice.

Panels 2-3 are captioned:

UBI HAROLD DUX ANGLORUM ET SUI MILITES EQUITANT AD BOSHAM ECCLESIA[M]

Where Harold, a leader of the English, and his knights ride to Bosham Church

The remainder of Panel 3 or the start of Panel 4 show Harold and his men feasting in the upper floor of a large home. The latrine isn't depicted, unfortunately, but this is the residence that the recent work discovered.

Firmly within Panel 4, Harold and his men then descend the steps, pick up their dogs, and board boats to cross the Channel to visit Normandy and meet with Duke William. This happened in or around 1064.

HIC HAROLD MARE NAVIGAVIT

Here Harold sailed by sea

After several adventures on the Continent, Harold made an oath to Duke William, related to their discussions of who would succeed Edward the Confessor to the English throne. It was time to take care of this, as Edward would die within about a year. Harold was depicted in Panel 23 standing between two altars, touching two reliquaries as he made his oath.

UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTUM FECIT WILLELMO DUCI

Where Harold made an oath to Duke William

With that adventuring and oath-making taken care of, Harold and his knights returned home to his lordly complex at Bosham. Below in Panel 24 we see a ship returning, then Harold and another man on horseback between two multi-story structures, with someone watching for the ship from a balcony on the structure at left.

HIC HAROLD DUX REVERSUS EST AD ANGLICAM TERRAM

Here Earl Harold returned to English land

Harold reported the details of his trip to King Edward, who soon died. The Witan convened in a Witenagemot and decided to make Harold the king. Read Panels 27, 28, and 29 from upper left to lower left and then right.

HIC EADWARDUS REX IN LECTO ALLOQUIT[UR] FIDELES
ET HIC DEFUNCTUS EST
HIC DEDERUNT HAROLDO CORONA[M] REGIS

Here King Edward in bed speaks to his faithful followers
and here he died
Here they gave the king's crown to Harold

Harold was crowned 6 January 1066, the day after Edward's death. He probably was the first ruler crowned in Westminster Abbey in London.

HIC RESIDET HAROLD REX ANGLORUM
STIGANT ARCHIEP[ISCOPU]S
ISTI MIRANT[UR] STELLA[M]

Here sits Harold King of the English
Archbishop Stigand
These people marvel at the star

The Panels above show Halley's Comet, which reappeared that spring. The comet went through perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, on 23 March. Chinese astronomers recorded that it was visible for more than two months, from 3 April through 7 June by the western calendar. It came within 0.10 AU of Earth and was at -4 magnitude, much brighter than its +2 magnitude appearance in 1986.

Halley's Comet appears every 72 to 80 years. Officially known as 1P/Halley, its appearances have been recorded by astronomers around the world since at least 240 BCE, but it wasn't until 1696 that Edmond Halley realized that these were reappearances of the same comet.

The late ninth century Anglo Saxon Chronicle mentions the comet, and William of Malmesbury's Gesta regum Anglorum or The History of the English Kings mentions its appearances in 989 and 1066 and the belief that it was a grim omen. In 1066, for the English, it was. William recorded the description provided by fellow monk Eilmer of Malmesbury:

Not long after, a comet, portending (they say) a change in governments, appeared, trailing its long flaming hair through the empty sky: concerning which there was a fine saying of a monk of our monastery called Æthelmær. Crouching in terror at the sight of the gleaming star, "You've come, have you?", he said. "You've come, you source of tears to many mothers. It is long since I saw you; but as I see you now you are much more terrible, for I see you brandishing the downfall of my country."

It was an omen in the spring of 1066, because William of Normandy invaded England that fall. William had begun organizing his invasion fleet of about 700 warships and transports as soon as he heard of Harold's coronation.

William claimed that Harold had broken an oath sworn on some especially sacred relics, as seen above in Panel 23. Pope Alexander II formally declared that William of Normandy was the rightful heir of the throne of England, and nobles quickly joined William's side.

Victor write the histories, which sometimes means weaving the tapestries. Recall that Bishop Odo of Bayeux, who would have provided the relics, was Duke William's maternal half-brother, and he commissioned the tapestry. Did Harold really make that oath? We can't be certain.

Harold was soon fighting off invasions by his own brother Tostig and King Harald III Hardrada of Norway. Hardrada and Tostig defeated an English army at the Battle of Fulford on 20 September. Then Harold's army defeated the forces of Hardrada and Tostig five days later at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, where both Hardrada and Tostig were killed.

William's fleet sailed north to England on 27-28 September, landing about 7,000 men at Pevensey on the East Sussex coast. Harold marched his army quickly to the south. The Battle of Hastings took place on 14 October 1066, from about 9 AM to dusk. Harold's army, almost entirely infantry, was up against William's force which was roughly 50% infantry, 25% cavalry, and 25% archers. Panel 53 is deep in the mayhem.

HIC CECIDERUNT SIMUL ANGLI ET FRANCI IN PR[O]ELIO

Here English and French fell at the same time in battle

Harold was killed, probably late in the day. The legend is that he was shot in the eye with an arrow and his body was then mutilated by being trampled by one or more horses, or it was dismembered by Norman fighters, or both. Panel 57, below, may have been intended to show him multiple times during his death, first holding the arrow passing through his eye into his skull below his name HAROLD in the caption, and then being trampled by a horse.

Again, most of what we know comes from the victorious Normans. As for what the tapestry shows us, it has gone through multiple waves of restoration that might have become creative. Before photography, several engravings were made depicting the tapestry. The details of Panel 57, especially the figure who might be holding an arrow leading into his eye, differ significantly from one restoration to the next.

HIC HAROLD REX INTERFECTUS EST

Here King Harold was slain

Edgar Ætheling of the House of Wessex, the young great-nephew of Edward the Confessor, was proclaimed King of England after the battle. However, he was never crowned, being peacefully deposed after about two months. Duke William of Normandy was crowned King William I of England on Christmas Day, 1066, in Westminster Abbey in London.

The Investigation and the Latrine

So, what about that Anglo-Saxon latrine?

See the paper "Where Power Lies: Lordly Power Centres in the English Landscape c. 800–1200", The Antiquaries Journal, volume 104, October 2024, pp 72–106.

The noble estate of Godwin then Harold, Earls of Essex (and elsewhere), was beyond a palisade wall of timber closing off the tip of a triangular piece of land divided in two by a stream.

The residence and associated structures were protected within a perimeter formed by that stream and a pair of ditches. A wall encircled the church on three sides, with the stream on the fourth.

Across the stream was the monastery and a mill. Here's a map of the area, from the paper:

This wasn't a castle. It was a fortified complex with a large house and an associated church along with other buildings. You could call it a thegnly site, or a burh or burhgeat, and it was meant to clearly show the wealth and power of its occupant.

The word "rich" wasn't necessarily about money, it referred to authority or power at the beginning of the 10th century. But by the end of that century, it had shifted to its modern concept of being conspicuously wealthy.

The Earl of Wessex could feast with his men in an impressive dwelling, then stop by the church for a prayer on their way to the harbor to board ships to head off to Normandy, as shown above in the Bayeux Tapestry.

Everyone knew that Harold lived around here, but no one knew exactly where. Until, that is, they discovered his latrine.

This second figure from the paper shows the details. Notice the timber building, #7, and especially the latrine, #9.

A study in 2006 had used ground-penetrating radar and dug some trenches, and found a large pre-Norman complex on the site. However, they lacked some toiletological information that was published in 2010 and 2015.

Around the year 950, latrines began to be integrated into high-status Anglo-Saxon houses. A latrine attached to a timber building of the late Saxon period, especially when attached to one end of the structure, is a very strong indicator of an elite residence — royalty or the aristocracy. As the "Where Power Lies" paper says [emphasis added]:

Although the majority of the garden was devoid of archaeology, excavations did locate a rubbish pit and two enclosure ditches dated to the Anglo-Norman period and, crucially, a Late Saxon latrine apparently associated with an earth-fast timber building. The importance of this latter feature could not be fully recognised at the time, as it is only subsequent publications, first by Gabor Thomas in 2010 and then John Blair in 2015, that convincingly illustrate how latrines came to be linked to the chamber-ends of tenth-century and later high-status houses.

Unlike the stone castles already being built in Normandy, Anglo-Saxon elite manors were usually built from wood and associated with an adjacent stone church. The Old English word for building is that for "timber" — a residence or other secular building is timber, while a church is quite different. There's an theory that stone was specifically reserved for the church.