Dr Leary told the Daily Mail<\/a>: \u201cThe tower is an indicator of a high\u2011status site, the Malthouse is also an indicator of high\u2011status. It is not the sort of thing that is normally found. This suggests it is probably a lordly centre. We know that Harold Godwinson owned the land, but we don’t know that he ever visited it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe tower appears to mirror a structure Godwinson is believed to have had at Bosham in Sussex. As Dr Leary noted, \u201cThe tower may relate to Godwinson, as he did have a similar tower in Bosham in Sussex. We know he had it because it was depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Attention then shifted to a large timber hall built above the earlier malthouse. Although the hall has not yet been dated, its scale and construction suggest it served as a venue for political gatherings, feasting and cultural activity \u2014 all hallmarks of elite Anglo\u2011Saxon estates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the most striking finds was a piece of worked amber, apparently being prepared for jewellery. Dr Leary described it as the \u201cstandout find\u201d, saying it reinforced the idea that the site was a place where luxury goods were produced or enjoyed by wealthy individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Domesday Book, commissioned by William the Conqueror after taking the English throne, records the Skipsea area as land formerly held by Godwinson. The new discoveries suggest the hall may have been part of a significant estate linked to the king or his household. The region retained its strategic importance after the conquest, with the Norman castle thought to have been constructed roughly two decades later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reflecting on the site\u2019s significance, Dr Leary said: \u201cIt does indicate high\u2011status sites, and the fact that he [Godwinson] owned it, you know, all of these things sort of link up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even so, no definitive evidence yet ties the structures directly to Godwinson himself. The site may also correspond to the lost settlement of Cleeton, mentioned in Domesday records but long considered missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For co\u2011director Dr Elaine Jamieson, the scale and rarity of the discoveries exceeded expectations. \u201cWe definitely were surprised in the sense that we thought there might be a hall there. The nature of archaeology is you don’t always find what you’re looking for, so it was surprising,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut the other two structures, the malthouse, we had no inclination that was there, and the sunken tower structure is a very rare building. There are very few of them that have actually been excavated, so that was a real surprise. We had no idea that was there as well, so that’s really exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The site also serves as the University of York\u2019s leading undergraduate field school: \u201cWe use this as the main undergraduate field school for students at the University of York, so this is where they get their first real taste of excavation, and it has blown us away,\u201d Dr Leary said. \u201cWe will be digging for the next few years, and it is tremendously exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Archaeologists may have uncovered the remains of a timber hall on land once owned by Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo\u2011Saxon King of England, offering a rare glimpse into the wealth and influence Godwinson held before his death at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The excavation, led by University of York lecturer Dr Jim Leary, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31564,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"default","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[33,53,115,1],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[69],"class_list":{"0":"post-31563","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-editors-picks","8":"category-europe","9":"category-preservation","10":"category-uncategorized"},"authors":[{"term_id":69,"user_id":1,"is_guest":0,"slug":"woodcentral","display_name":"Wood Central","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MASTER-BRAND-MARK_POS_RGB-e1676449549955.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MASTER-BRAND-MARK_POS_RGB-e1676449549955.jpg"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31563"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31566,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31563\/revisions\/31566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31563"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=31563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}