Coast

It seems clear that Bosham was one of the first outposts of Christianity in Britain. The Venerable Bede, who was the author of the first history of England, reports that there was a monastery at Bosham in the 7th century.

He writes of how a ‘certain monk of the Scottish nation, whose name was Dicul, who had a very small monastery, at the place called Bosanham, encompassed with the sea and woods’. Enter the church and look at the raised crypt to the right of the chancel. This is held locally to be on the site of that monastery.

Interestingly, Bede goes on to indicate that the monks were finding life pretty tough: ‘ None of the natives cared either to follow their course of life, or to hear their preaching.’

The tower of the church is Saxon – built about three hundred years later in the 10th century. Its chancel arch is the one that can be seen in the Bayeux Tapestry. In the church; one more clearly obvious that the other, are two significant tombs.

Some believe Harold's daughter lies here

One is held by the church– and marked as – the tomb of Canute’s little daughter. Excavations in the 195Os established that it held the remains of a young girl and this links with local tradition, although there is little evidence.

A second tomb is not on show and not marked. It contains the bones of a man whose body had been severely mutilated. The head is missing and so too is all of one leg and two thirds of the other. 

These injuries tally with those recorded by some contemporary records of the Battle of Hastings and this has led some historians to conclude that the tomb is that of Harold.

They argue that the idea makes sense; a burial within William’s secure naval base by the sea would ensure that the tomb could not become a shrine, whilst still honouring the king. In 2004 a group led by local historian John Pollack attempted to get clearance for the remains to be DNA tested, but were refused permission by diocesan authorities.

Theory aisde, Bosham church is also home to two strong local legends. The first is that a giant stick was once displayed here, said to be the walking stick of Bevis, the legenday Sussex giant.

The second legend is that the calm waters of the harbour contain a bell stolen from the church by Viking raiders in the years before the Battle of Hastings. The story goes that it fell from their long ship , but that it can still be heard ringing  in response when the bells peak.

A rhyme is said locally:” Ye bells of Bosham, ring for me,
For as ye ring, I ring wi' ye.

If you’re there when the bells are ringing, listen hard. Is that an echo? Or a ghostly answer from the deep?