Fishbourne Roman
Palace
Where is Chichester?
Chichester
Modern-day Chichester,
known in Roman times as
Noviomagus, is located in
southern England in West
Sussex.
Where is Fishbourne?
The village of Fishbourne, where the remains of a vast palace
have been discovered, is located 2 miles west of Chichester.
Approximately 2000 people lived in the village in the year 2001.
During the Roman invasion
The earliest remains at Fishbourne
date back to the Claudian invasion
of Britain in 43 AD.
-Discovery of a granary, helmets,
and weapon shards indicate the
presence of soldiers in the area.
-These soldiers might have belonged
to the 2nd Legion, which had
attacked the Durotriges tribe
under the leadership of the
general Vespasian.
-Because a harbor was located
nearby, archaeologists believe
that Fishbourne was first used as
a supply base and military port
for the invading Roman armies.
The Next Thirty Years
After the Roman soldiers moved inland, a number of
physical improvements were made to the site:
-roads were resurfaced
- drainage improved
-a harbor was developed
-in the late 60s AD, a villa with its own bath complex was
constructed
Work Begins on the New Palace
-Around 75 AD, 10 acres of land was clear and landscaped.
-Over the next few years, a vast number of builders and
craftsmen lived on the site as they built the palace.
-Craftsmen were brought in from all over the empire,
including: mosaic makers
plasterers
marble workers
painters
carpenters
ironsmiths
hydraulic engineers
(for building fountains)
-Although the builders tried to find as many materials as
possible from local sources, other supplies were
imported from all over the empire.
Who was the palace for?
No one is absolutely sure why the
palace was rebuilt on such a
massive scale, or who lived in it.
Since the client king Tiberius Claudius
Cogidubnus was active in the local
area, it is possible that he lived in the
palace.
According to one theory, Vespasian
might have wanted to honor
Cogidubnus’ loyalty during the earlier
Roman invasion and thus rewarded
him with his monumental palace.
West
Wing
North
Wing
South
Wing
East
Wing
The originial palace covered 5.6 acres, contained more than 100
rooms (most with mosaic floors) and was as large as the great
imperial palaces on the Palatine Hill in Rome.
-It occupied as much land as Buckingham Palace currently does
in London.
The west wing was
built on a platform
5 feet higher than
the rest of the
palace. In the
center was the
reception hall;
other rooms in
this wing were
used as offices.
The southern
wing most
likely contained a
suite of rooms for
Cogidubnus and
his family.
The north wing contained
suites of rooms for guests to
enjoy when they visited
The bathhouse in the south
east corner was part of the
original villa
Visitors
entered the
palace through
the entrance
hall in the east
wing. The east
wing also
contained
rooms for less
important
guests.
The Gardens at the Palace
-The open area between the 4
wings was 100 by 80 yards
(more than a football field).
-This area was laid out as a
formal garden (think of the
gardens at Colonial
Williamsburg), with short
grass, box hedges, fruit trees,
climbing plants, and all kinds
of flowers.
-Underground pipes brought
water to fountains, and small
statues were placed
throughout the garden.
-The gardens were arranged in
the most fashionable Italian
style.
The palace in later years…
-Between 100 and 280 AD, numerous renovations (both major
and minor) were made to the palace and the grounds. By the
end of the 3rd century little of the palace would have been
recognizable to those who knew Cogidubnus.
-We are not sure who lived in the palace during these centuries.
-Archaeological evidence indicates that major renovations were
underway when a huge fire broke out and destroyed the entire
building in 280 AD. The palace was not rebuilt.
-In the late 4th or 5th century bodies were being buried in the
rubble.
-By the Saxon period all that remained was a single slope of land.
The discovery of the palace
-In the 1800s and early 1900s, mosaics and
other remains were discovered at the site, but
no one realized their full significance.
-The palace itself was discovered in 1960,
when workers digging a trench for a watermain pipe began to unearth mosaics.
-Major excavations were carried out between
1961-1969; other excavations have taken place
as warranted by new discoveries.
-The museum was opened to the public in
1968.
Visiting Fishbourne Palace Today
The palace located ½ mile from the
Fishbourne Railway Station
-Once you leave the station, you
walk past some houses and the
Fishbourne C.E. Primary School
Railway station
primary school
Then you arrive at the museum
Chichester
Train station
Primary school
Museum
Remains
What Remains of the Palace…
Only the north wing has been well excavated. Half of the garden
area has been restored, as the other half lies buried under modern
houses and gardens. The southern wing is currently covered by
the A259 road, which runs from Folkestone to Emsworth.
Museum
Building covering north wing
East Wing-
West
Wing
Houses where south wing was
Today the north wing remains (which contained suits of rooms for
important guests) are housed under a large cover building. The
mosaics and hypocaust systems have been excavated and visitors
can walk around the wing to better explore these remains.
Mosaics
Cupid and Dolphin Mosaic
close up of the cupid mosaic
-Over 360,000 tesserae make up the Cupid and a Dolphin mosaic
-The red tesserae are red pottery shards imported from Gaul
In the north wing, visitors
can see this hypocaust
(sub-floor heating
system) that was under
construction when the
building burned down in
the late 200s AD
Several skeletons, dating
to the late 3rd century AD
(much later than King
Cogidubnus) have been
discovered in the north
wing.
The northern wing/modern museum
building from the outside
All that remains of the east wing
where the reception hall would have been
The Gardens and the South Wing
Today the south wing
(which probably
contained quarters for
the King and his family)
lies buried beneath a
neighborhood and a
motorway (highway)
The West Wing Today
-Steps to the reception hall. On the
other side of the hedges on the left is
the modern houses.