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Updated: May 26, 2025
One of the farmers of Bosham helped them some little way with his harvest cart, but the rest of the journey had to be performed on foot. It was not till noon that they came out upon the high road between Chichester and Forest Lea; and they had not been upon it more than ten minutes, before the sound of horses' tread was heard, as if coming from Chichester.
That generous foe of mine, Egil if indeed I should not call him my friend, as he named me once had set two months as the time in which I must bide in peace, and I will not say that this space seemed likely to go over-heavily for me. We could hear little news except from such ships as put in from along the coast, and the first news that came was when Godwine returned from Bosham.
Now it was Halfden's ship which had done that, and the fires we saw before the fog came had been the beacons lit because of his landing. Then he made a great outcry until he had many folk to listen, and they paid him well before he would sing. Whereon, forsooth, my ears tingled, for he sang of the burning of Bosham.
In order to see something of this low and muddy coast, which has seen so much of the history of England, I set out from Bosham very early one morning, intending to make my way through Emsworth and Havant, by the Roman road which joins Chichester and Southampton and runs across the north of these creeks, which may perhaps be considered as one great port of which only the more western part is famous still.
And what it may have been I know not unless the wind as it eddied through the high windows clashed some weapon against shield on the walls with a clear ringing sound but I woke with the voice of Bosham bell in my ears and Rorik and Halfden each in his place started also, and Rorik muttered a curse before he lay down again, for he sat up, looking wildly.
So it was, he told me, and while we watched the busy Danes, he began to sing to me in low tones the song of Bosham bell which his people would sing by the fireside. "Hard by the haven, Wilfrith the holy Bade men a bell tower Sturdily build. Thence should a bell sound Over the wide seas, Homeward to hail The hardy shipmen.
A rather dull walk westwards past Birdham to West Itchenor, a remote little place on the shores of the creek, is amply repaid by the fine views northwards up the Bosham channel, with the far-flung line of the Downs beyond. We are now on that portion of the coast which approximates most nearly to the original spot, now beneath the waves, where the first colonists of Sussex landed.
Bathurst, lives in a little house at Bosham, with his daughter, and maintains himself by teaching the wealthier boys of the town. Now, if you could ride to him to-night, he would be most glad to serve you, both as a cavalier, and for my mother's sake. He would find some place of concealment, and watch for the time when you may attempt to cross the Channel."
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