Indoor toilet clue to finding King Harold's palace

The Bayeux Tapestry depicts King Harold sailing from Bosham

Archaeologists believe they may have identified the site of King Harold's palace in Sussex, thanks to its toilet.

The facility, at the site in Bosham, was inside the wooden building, which experts said would only have been the case for the home of someone at "the top end of society".

The team also said they are sure the Bayeux Tapestry, depicting the Norman Conquest, shows Harold setting sail from Bosham.

Harold was killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, leading to William the Conqueror becoming King of England.

A timber building with a toilet built into it dated to the late Saxon period was first identified at Bosham in 2006.

"That is absolutely key in identifying a high status building" Dr Duncan Wright, a senior lecturer from the University of Newcastle, told BBC Radio Sussex.

"It's one that is definitely the higher end, around the 10th Century you start to get Anglo Saxon en suites.

"We're as sure as we can be that this is the site of King Harold's residence. You find latrines in other places, but these ones built into grand timber buildings are very much the top end of society."

According to legend, Harold died when he was shot through the eye with an arrow

The Bayeux Tapestry is also thought to depict Harold attending a feast and a church, both thought to have been Bosham.

"The church is almost certainly that of Bosham still standing today" said Dr Wright, "so we've identified that binary complex that we see on the tapestry.

"It would have been his principle residence, it was his dad's principle seat before him as well."

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