Exeter, indeed, only once lost the church of Bosham,
and that in a most glorious cause, the cause of St Thomas. For when
Henry II. quarrelled with Becket [Footnote: Herbert of Bosham, possibly
a canon of Bosham, was St Thomas' secretary and devoted follower, and was
certainly born in Bosham.] he deprived the Bishop of Exeter, who took his
part, of this church and bestowed it upon the Abbot of Lisieux, who held
it till 1177, when it came once more to the Bishop of Exeter, who held it,
he and his successors till the Reformation. In 1548 the college was
suppressed, only one priest being left to serve the church, with a
curate to serve the dependent parish of Appledram.
The church, as we have it to-day upon a little sloping green hill over
the water, is of the very greatest interest. The foundations of a Roman
building have been discovered beneath the chancel, and the foundation
and basis of the chancel arch may be a part of this building. But the
greater part of the building we have is undoubtedly Saxon; the great
grey tower, the nave, the chancel arch, one of the most characteristic
works of that period, and the chancel itself, though enlarged in later
times, are without doubt buildings of Saxon England.
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