Bosham
| Bosham | |
| Sussex | |
|---|---|
 Holy Trinity Church, Bosham | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU806039 |
| Location: | 50°49’45"N, 0°51’21"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 2,900 (2011) |
| Post town: | Chichester |
| Postcode: | PO18 |
| Dialling code: | 01243 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Chichester |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Chichester |
| Website: | Parish Council |
Bosham is a coastal village in Sussex, centred about two miles west of Chichester filling a broad peninsula projecting into natural Chichester Harbour where Bosham has its own harbour and inlet on the western side. It gives a name to the county's Bosham Hundred.
The 2011 census recorded a population 4,256.
Contents
About the village and parish
Broadbridge
Broadbridge, sometimes known as New Bosham more developed round the A259 road and the Coastway railway line including Bosham railway station as with most stations in the county with direct services to London as well as the cities of Brighton and Portsmouth. The locality is increasingly referred to by its earlier name, Broadbridge.
Bosham village and Bosham Hoe
Bosham is surrounded by varying width green buffer land, the vast bulk of which is the south of the peninsula. This includes the site of the original village centre on the harbour as well as the farmland and private property of Bosham Hoe. At spring tides the sea comes up high flooding the rural lower road and some car parking spaces.
Parish church
Holy Trinity Church, the ancient parish church, is rich in history. Of
the church seen today, the tower has four storeys, of which the uppermost os early Norman in style, but the rest is Saxon.
The church has been dedicated to the Holy Trinity since the early part of the 14th century. Much of the building retains its original Saxon architecture, dating from about the late 800s. The tower houses an original Saxon window. There is also a 13th-century crypt, which is speculated to have been a charnel house used to harbour the bones of those from the collegiate church nearby.[1]
Holy Trinity occasionally hosts concerts and recitals.[2]
The church here appears in Bede's Ecclesiatical History of the English People, in which he records that Bishop Wilfrid visited in 681, on which occasion he met a Celtic monk, Dicul, and five disciples in a small monastery:[3]
all the province of the South Saxons was ignorant of the Name of God and the faith. But there was among them a certain monk of the Scottish nation, whose name was Dicul, who had a very small monastery, at the place called Bosanhamm, encompassed by woods and seas, and in it there were five or six brothers, who served the Lord in humility and poverty; but none of the natives cared either to follow their course of life, or hear their preaching.—Bede: 'Ecclesiatical History'
The church is portrayed on the Bayeux Tapestry, as a meeting place of Earl Haolrd with King Edward/.
History
Roman
The site has been inhabited since Roman times, and is close to the famous palace at Fishbourne. Several important Roman buildings have been found in northern Bosham around Broadbridge including a possible temple, a small theatre and a mosaic.[4] The Bosham Head, part of the largest Roman statue from Britain was found nearby. A legionary's helmet was found in Bosham harbour and is now in Lewes museum. The helmet is of late Claudian date, the time of the invasion.[5]
Local tradition holds that the Emperor Vespasian maintained a residence in Bosham, although there is no evidence of this. There are also said to be remains of a building popularly thought to be a villa belonging to Vespasian, at the Stone Wall in the parish.[1] Pottery and tile fragments, of both Roman and early British period, have been discovered in the area, confirming pre-Anglo-Saxon activity. The possible Roman harbour here was part of the natural harbours between Portsmouth and Chichester known as Magnus Portus.
Anglo-Saxon period
Much of Bosham's history during the Early Middle Ages is ecclesiastical. Bede mentions Bosham in his book The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, speaking of Wilfrid's visit here in 681 when he encountered a Celtic monk, Dicul, and five disciples in a small monastery.[3]
In 850, the original village church was built possibly on the site of a Roman building, and in the 10th century was replaced with Holy Trinity Church, standing beside Bosham Quay, that still serves as the local place of worship. There is a tradition that a daughter of Canute the Great drowned in a nearby brook and was buried here, although there seems to be little evidence for this. The tradition was originally linked to a fourteenth- or fifteenth-century effigy.[3] In 1865 a coffin containing a child's skeleton was discovered, buried in the nave in front of what is now the chancel of Holy Trinity Church.[1] This was thought to be King Canute's daughter, who according to local legend drowned in the mill stream here.[6]
There is also a tradition that Canute had a palace in the village, perhaps where the Manor House now stands, or possibly at the harbour's edge, but no evidence has emerged. 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.
There is a legend that around this time Bosham Church was plundered by Danish pirates, who stole the tenor bell. As the pirate ship sailed away, the remaining church bells were rung. The tenor bell miraculously joined in, destroying the ship. The bell is still said to ring beneath the waters whenever the other bells are rung.[7]
The Norman Conquest
Bosham is mentioned by name on the Bayeux Tapestry, referring to the 1064 meeting of Earl 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 ecclesia[m]"
- (Where Harold, Earl of the English, and his army ride to Bosham church)
Harold's strong association with Bosham and the recent discovery of an Anglo-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. The speculation began in 1954, when the nave was re-paved, and the body of King Canute's reputed daughter was re-examined. It was discovered that the body of a richly dressed man was buried beside the child's.[1] A request to exhume the 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 that of Harold Godwinson were too slim to justify disturbing a burial place.[8][9]
The Domesday Book (1086) lists Bosham as one of the wealthiest manors in England. It included the nearby village of Chidham. Bosham was confirmed to be in the possession of Osbern, Bishop of Exeter, who had been granted the land by his kinsman, Edward the Confessor. It possessed 112 hides (about 13,000 acres) in different parts of the country.[1] Unlike many places, lordship of much of Bosham remained in the same hands after the conquest as before, although the ownership of Earl Godwin's land fell to the King.[10]
Landmarks
The Holy Trinity Church in the centre of the village is its oldest building and a centre of historic events. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book.
Chichester Harbour, a Site of Special Scientific Interest is partly within the parish. This is a wetland of international importance, a Special Protection Area for wild birds and a Special Area of Conservation. The harbour is of particular importance for wintering wildfowl and waders of which five species reach numbers which are internationally important.[11]
Sports and recreation
- Sailing: Bosham Sailing Club: the oldest sailing club in Chichester Harbour, founded in 1907.[12] Its clubhouse is the Old Mill on Bosham Quay with a terrace overlooking the picturesque harbour.
- Football:
- Bosham F.C., founded in 1901
- Bosham Cygnets (youth football)
In media
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Bosham) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Marwood, G W (1995). The Story of Holy Trinity Church. Chichester: Selsey Press, Ltd.. pp. 3–15.
- ↑ "Concert on 19 November 2016 - Holy Trinity Church, Bosham - The great and wide sea - Opus Anglicanum". concert-diary.com. http://www.concert-diary.com/concert/1013547009/The-great-and-wide-sea-Opus-Anglicanum.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 A History of the County of Sussex - Volume 4 pp 182-188: Bosham (Victoria County History)
- ↑ Black, Ernest W. (1985). "The Roman buildings at Bosham". Sussex Archaeological Collections 123: 255–6. https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-285-1/dissemination/pdf/Vol_123_1985/SAC123_AH_Notes.pdf.
- ↑ "Twitter: Tom Holland". 7 August 2020. https://twitter.com/holland_tom/status/1291762365285924864?lang=en.
- ↑ Account of discovery in The Gentleman's Magazine, 1865 (page 435 onwards).
- ↑ "The Bosham Bell". Bosham Tower. http://www.boshamtower.org.uk/page7.htm.
- ↑ In re Holy Trinity, Bosham [2004] Fam 124 – decision of the Chichester Consistory Court regarding opening King Harold's supposed grave.
- ↑ "King's grave mystery may be unearthed". BBC News. 24 November 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/southern_counties/3231020.stm.
- ↑ Bosham in the Domesday Book
- ↑ SSSI listing and designation for Chichester Harbour
- ↑ 100 years afloat.. Bosham Sailing Club. Angela Bromley-Martin. pub 2008
- ↑ Lowry, Brian (1995). The Truth is Out There: The Official Guide to the X-Files. Harper Prism. pp. 128–129. ISBN 0-06-105330-9.
- ↑ Lovece, Frank (1996). The X-Files Declassified. Citadel Press. pp. 74–75. ISBN 0-8065-1745-X. https://archive.org/details/xfilesdeclassifi00love.
