Lost website of King Harold depicted in Bayeux Tapestry discovered after 900 years because of lavatory

After 900 years the residence of King Harold, the last King of England, has been found in a costal village in West Sussex. Harold’s private estate was depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry

In a major historical breakthrough archaeologists have located the residence of the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, Harold Godwinson – with a mediaeval toilet the final key to solve this longstanding mystery.

The lost site located in Bosham, West Sussex, is thought to have been the private residence of King Harold who was brutally killed in the Battle of Hastings in 1066 – after taking an arrow to the eye.

Longer than an Olympic swimming pool, the Bayeux Tapestry depicts the scene of Harold plucking an arrow from his eye and then later being hacked down by a Norman knight. The tapestry also shows other key scenes of the King’s life like events two years before the battle of Harold celebrating at a rambunctious feast at his residence at Bosham.

This newfound location of Harold’s Bosham Estate is central to the Bayeux Tapestry and is one of the three locations shown alongside Westminster and Hastings.

Dr Duncan Wright, a senior lecturer in Medieval Archaeology at the University of Newcastle who led the study that located the Estate in Bostham, said: “A latrine was the killer clue to find what was essentially, the palace of King Harold.”

A latrine is basically a toilet – a very simple one at that.

Dr Duncan added: “That was surprising, but an ensuite bathroom would have only been found among the highest of elites.”

Experts used recent evidence showing toilets inside one’s residence were only found in high status 10th and 11th century homes. This led to them narrowing down the king’s estate to a modern day house in a coastal area in a village.

Archaeologists and historians have investigated the mediaeval latrine which suggests a royal residence. The co-author on a recent study on the land, Professor Oliver Creighton from the University Exeter, noted the significance of the find.

He said: “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.”