Is King Harold buried under a Hertfordshire church? Amateur historians try to solve the mystery

The bones of the last Anglo-Saxon king of England may have lain undisturbed under a little-known church for almost a thousand years.

A pair of amateur historians have claimed that Harold Godwinson, killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, may not be buried at Waltham Abbey as the historical legend dictated.

In a development reminiscent of the discovery of the body of Richard III under a Leicester car park in 2012, a solicitor and a former police detective are now fighting to prove that four tombs under St Michael’s Church in Bishop’s Stortford, Herts, contain the bones of Harold and his family.

Simon Keynes, Cambridge University

Kevin McKenzie explained that a “process of elimination” had lead him and research partner Terry Muff to their conclusion.

He said: “They found Harold’s tomb at Waltham in Elizabethan times and it was opened and found to contain something which had moulded into dust. That could not have been bones. It might have been a ‘heart burial’ which was a tradition with high status individuals at that time.

“So we thought, if his bones aren’t at Waltham Abbey as they don’t seem to be, and the Bosham story [another possible burial site in Sussex, near Hastings] doesn’t hold water, it would make sense for the wife to bury the body.

“And Edith The Fair, Harold’s common law wife, is recorded in the Domesday Book as the owner of the Manor of Stortford.

“So I think at the very least, we’re going to find Edith – the coffins are too rare for ordinary individuals. Whether we’ve found the king and his brothers … it’s eminently possible.”

The church has declined the pair’s request to conduct a radar analysis and is insisting they apply for the ecclesiastical equivalent of planning permission, which will cost several hundred pounds.

The team is now appealing for funds, petitioners, and a professional archeological team to support their bid for a “faculty” to allow the Ground Penetrating Radar survey at St Michael’s.

Simon Keynes, the Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo Saxon in the University of Cambridge, said: “Harold is normally recognised to be buried at Waltham Holy Cross in Essex. But in the matter of Harold’s burial anything is conceivable.”