The Major Discovery A Medieval Toilet Helped Researchers Identify

Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England who ruled as Harold II is best known for losing the Battle of Hastings in 1066 to the Norman invader William the Conqueror (and as William's sobriquet indicates, he not only beat Harold II, he eventually conquered England). Besides losing his crown and country in one fell swoop, Harold II's inglorious end was also famously memorialized in the Bayeux Tapestry. The nearly 224-foot-long embroidered artwork celebrates William I's big win (I've seen it in person and it's as impressive as you'd imagine). The tapestry includes a scene in which Harold II dies during the battle with an arrow to the eye.

There are other scenes featuring the Anglo-Saxon king as well, two of which include his palace in Bosham, a village in West Sussex, England. For years, the exact location of the residence had remained a mystery. University archeologists, using various research tools and after reevaluating an earlier excavation, believe they've found the site of Harold II's palace. And it took the discovery of his throne, actually Harold II's "porcelain throne" aka toilet, to help in pinpointing where the home once stood.

Harold II's palace at Bosham featured a moat, gatehouse, watchtower, and several outbuildings. These included granaries, stables, and kitchens, and also possibly included a wooded deer park for hunting and timbering, besides being a status symbol. The site was also near a harbor where his private fleet was anchored. It wouldn't have been the Anglo-Saxon king's only residence, but researchers believe, based on its grandeur, it would have been one of his favorites and perhaps his primary residence.

Part of the untold history of the toilet is its relationship to the upper classes during the Medieval period. Clergy and the nobility would have had indoor facilities, unlike commoners. During Harold II's time, latrines, or toilets, were becoming a feature of what the university researchers called "high-status houses" in their study "Where Power Lies: Lordly Power Centres in the English Landscape c. 800–1200," published in The Antiquaries Journal in January 2025. The archeologists from Newcastle University and the University of Exeter relied on more than the location of an ancient latrine to pinpoint Harold II's palace, but it was a key piece of evidence since it confirmed the spot "as the site of a pre-Conquest elite residence," they wrote.

Finding the exact location of Harold II's palace was problematic since it was built of wood and wouldn't have survived. Additionally, the Normans destroyed many of the Anglo-Saxon houses during and after their conquest of England. Even before the discovery of Harold II's royal toilet, archeologists had an idea that the palace's location was most likely at the current site of a 17th- century manor house in the village of Bosham near the Anglo-Saxon-era Holy Trinity Church.

Duncan Wright of Newcastle University, the project's principal investigator, his co-investigator Oliver Creighton, from the University of Exeter, and their team used ground-penetrating radar and other techniques to locate two newly undiscovered medieval buildings associated with the palace. But it was revisiting a 2006 archeology dig that unearthed the importance of the latrine. Recent research has shown that indoor latrines were becoming en vogue for Anglo-Saxon high society beginning in the 10th century. The latrine, taken with all the other evidence, points to the site of the manor house as being the location of Harold II's palace.

William the Conqueror would go on to become the first king crowned at London's Westminster Abbey, in 1066, a tradition stretching to the present day with the coronation of King Charles III in May 2023. Harold II would become forever associated with his defeat by William I as graphically illustrated in the Bayeux Tapestry. At least his loo helped researchers discover the palace he once called home.