older in its base, and some authorities suggest that the lower portions
are actually the remains of the basilica erected in the time of
Constantine, on the site of which the church now stands. The east
portions of the chancel are Early English and once formed the chapel of
a college founded by William Warlewaste, Bishop of Exeter (1120). Note
the figure in the north wall, said to be that of the daughter of Knut
who died here while on a visit to Earl Godwin. The effigy is, however,
of much later date. The fine arcaded font is placed upon high steps
against a column. At the east end of the south aisle the floor is
raised over an Early English crypt or charnel-house, the entrance to
which is close to a canopied tomb. This tomb is that of Herbert of
Bosham, secretary to Becket, who wrote the _Book of Becket's
Martyrdom_.

[Illustration: BOSHAM MILL.]

The church was restored in 1865 and during this work the most
interesting discovery was made of the traditional burial place of
Knut's daughter. How often has a local tradition, accepted as fact by
the peasant, but looked upon as an idle tale by his educated superior,
proved to have more than a grain of truth in it and sometimes to be a
very circumstantial record of actualities, and fully supported by
antiquarian research. The exact position of the grave is shown by the
figure of a Danish raven painted upon a tile, and a stone slab with an
inscription upon it placed by the children of Bosham in 1906.

One of the ancient bells was stolen by Danish pirates; the story goes
that when half way to the open sea a storm arose which swamped the boat
in consequence of the great weight of the metal on board. On high
festivals of the Church, a Bosham man will tell you, its sound can be