A visit to Roman remains at Chichester and Fishbourne
Noviomagus Reginorum / Chichester
Prior to the Roman invasion of Britain in 43AD there was no significant settlement at the site currently occupied by Chichester. It soon became a significant staging post of the invasion and and important Roman city. Many remnants of Roman times remain in and around Chichester.
Below - Map of medieval Chichester showing the walls whose origins date to the establishment of a city here under the Roman occupation. The common Roman feature of North / South and East / West roads crossing at the heart of the city can be seen.
Below - One of the most significant pieces of Roman infrastructure are the walls around Chichester that mostly survive to this day, though they have been altered several times over the centuries. This is the wall at the South Gate Car Park which being the closest piece of wall to the railway station is where I began a clockwise walk around the walls. The south gate would have been on South Street to the right of the shot.
Below - A well preserved stretch of wall on the south side of the city.
Below - Information board next to the wall where it meets the A286.
A bit of wall is missing along the A286 and the wall is picked up again at North Walls just off the Westgate Roundabout. West Gate itself would have been across West Street and does not survive.
Below - At North Walls a stretch of wall can be walked along the top of the wall.
Below - The walls crossing Chapel Street, one of only a couple of gates in the wall but would have been added much later.
Below - Another information board (click to enlarge).
Below - Looking across Jubilee Gardens, sight of a medieval castle, the mound of the motte of the motte and bailey castle can be seen.
Below - Information board at the above point.
Below - Site of a gate at Priory Road, the steps up the surviving wall can be seen.
Below - Top of the wall at East Walls.
Below - The site of East Gate over East Street.
A bit of wall is missing around the south east corner, the wall is picked up again at the Market Avenue car park.
Below - The walls at the back of the Market Avenue car park with the other surviving gate cutting through to Cawley Priory car park.
Below - The wall seen from the inside at the Cawley Priory car park.
This section of wall ends at Theatre Lane which brings me back to where I started at the site of the South Gate.
Another significant Roman remnant is the former bath house that is preserved in the
Novium Museum built over it.
Below - Remains of the bath house in the floor of the Novium Museum.
Also to the east of the former walls the park at the Litten occupies the site of an amphitheatre. A mosaic survives in Chichester Cathedral, however there was an event on at the Cathedral at the time of my visit.
Just a couple of miles west of Chichester's former South Gate is the Fishbourne Roman Palace. It was known that there were Roman remains were situated here following housing development in the area around 1805. Remains of the grand palace, particularly it's fine collection of mosaics, were uncovered in 1960 when a new water main was being installed in the area. The villa dates back to 75AD and was thought to have been the residence of a pro-Roman local chieftain who aided the Roman conquest of Britain. The site was key to the Roman invasion of Britain with goods landed in a harbour nearby and granaries built in the area around the time of the 43AD invasion. I got the train from Chichester to Fishbourne and it is a short walk from Fishbourne station to the museum.
More information about the museum established at the site can be found on the Sussex Archaeological Society website.
Below - A model of the palace at the entrance to the museum. The remnants on display are mostly from the north wing of the building to the left.
Below - A piece of hypocaust.
Below - The mosaics uncovered in the excavation of the site.
Below - When some of the murals were lifted for refurbishment they revealed earlier mosaics underneath. These have been installed in rooms where mosaics haven't been found.
Below - Remains of a bath.
Below - Site of the main entrance to the complex.
Below - Modern colonnade of the museum building alongside the original colonnade of the north wing of the villa.
