SU8003 : Shore Road at high tide
taken 15 years ago, near to Bosham, West Sussex, England
The village of Bosham is situated on the western side of a chunky peninsula delimited to the north by the A259 between Broadbridge and Fishbourne.
The Bosham Channel, an offshoot of the Chichester Channel borders the village to the west, while immediately to the south of the village a tidal creek pushes inland a little way.
The village contains many interesting buildings including shops, pubs and restaurants and is quite a bustling village popular with visitors.
The most interesting building is the ancient parish church dedicated to The Holy Trinity. It dates originally from the mid C10th, and remarkably considerable Saxon features remain, notably a large part of the chancel and all but the top section of the tower. Inside the church on the western wall of the nave is a Saxon arch and above it a V-topped Saxon doorway with a round-topped Saxon window above that. On the outside of the tower on its western face at the top is a fine double lancet Saxon window. This church is depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry, with Harold seen riding to Bosham and then entering the church. A reproduction of the relevant panel of the tapestry is displayed on the northern wall of the nave.
It is thought that a tomb found in the C20th may belong to King Cnut's daughter who drowned off the coast of Bosham in the C11th.
The church is EH Grade I listed Link
Bosham's fame goes back far further in history than the Saxons, Danes and Normans however. The Saxon period takes us back about 900 years, but a similar number years before that, during Roman times Bosham was known as Magnus Portus (= Grand Port) and remarkably was plotted in Ptolemy's groundbreaking "Geography" which was written in c. 150AD