Fishbourne Roman Palace facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Fishbourne Roman Palace |
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Mosaics at Fishbourne Roman Palace
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| General information | |
| Location | Fishbourne, West Sussex grid reference SU838047 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 50°50′12″N 0°48′37″W / 50.8366°N 0.8103°W |
| Completed | 1st century |
| Destroyed | c. 270 AD |
Fishbourne Roman Palace is a huge ancient Roman house in Fishbourne, West Sussex, near Chichester. It's the biggest Roman home ever found north of the Alps mountains. This amazing palace was built very early, around 75 AD, which was only about 30 years after the Romans came to Britain.
Most of the palace has been dug up by archaeologists and is now protected. There's even a museum right on the site! The palace was shaped like a rectangle and had beautiful formal gardens in the middle. Parts of these gardens have been rebuilt so you can see what they might have looked like. Over time, the palace was changed a lot. Many simple black and white floor designs (called mosaics) were covered with more colorful and fancy ones. One of these, the Dolphin mosaic, is still perfectly preserved today. The palace was sadly destroyed by a fire around 270 AD and was never used again.
Contents
Discovering the Roman Palace
How Fishbourne Palace Was Found
The palace was first found by accident in 1805. Workers were building a new house and stumbled upon a wide pavement and pieces of columns. Over the next years, local people found more Roman items like pottery and mosaic tiles. But they didn't realize these pieces belonged to a massive building hidden underground.
The real discovery happened in 1960. An engineer named Aubrey Barrett was digging a trench for a water pipe. He found the foundations of a large stone building. This exciting find caught the attention of the Sussex Archaeological Society.
Digging Up History at Fishbourne
Archaeologists, led by Barry Cunliffe, started digging in 1961. Their work uncovered most of what we know about the palace today. More digs happened over the years, each revealing new secrets about the site's long history.
For example, from 1995 to 1999, archaeologists John Manley and David Rudkin explored the southern parts of the site. They found evidence that people lived here even before the Romans arrived in 43 AD! They discovered nearly 12,000 items, including flint tools from around 5000–4000 BC. This suggests that hunter-gatherers lived near where the palace now stands. They also found pottery from the Late Iron Age, showing that people were here before the Romans.
How Big Was Fishbourne Roman Palace?
The Roman villa found at Fishbourne was so huge that it became known as Fishbourne Roman Palace. It's as big as Nero's "Golden House" in Rome! It also looks a lot like Emperor Domitian's palace, the Domus Flavia, built in Rome in 92 AD. Fishbourne is by far the largest Roman home ever found north of the Alps. It's even bigger than Buckingham Palace in London!
Why Fishbourne Was Built Here
The Palace's Special Location
Fishbourne is very close to Chichester, which was an important Roman town called Noviomagus Reginorum. This area was home to the Atrebates tribe. They had a friendly relationship with the Romans early on. Later, these people were called the Regni because Roman client kings ruled them for so long.
Some experts believe Fishbourne Palace was a "seat of lordship." This means it might have been a very important place with lots of power and money. The palace was also near the Fishbourne channel, which connected to the sea. It might have even had its own harbor for trading ships!
History and Design of the Palace
Early Buildings and the Proto-Palace
The very first buildings on this spot were granaries, which are places to store grain. They were over 33 meters (108 feet) long and were probably a supply base for the Roman army during their invasion in 43 AD. Later, two wooden houses were built. One of them had clay floors and plaster walls, showing it was quite comfortable.
Around 60 AD, these wooden buildings were taken down. A more fancy stone-walled villa, sometimes called a "proto-palace," was built nearby around 65 AD. It had a garden with columns, a bath suite, and other buildings. It was decorated with colorful wall paintings and marble panels. A marble head of a young man, possibly Nero as a teenager, was found here. This shows that skilled craftsmen, probably from Italy, worked on the palace.
The Grand Palace Takes Shape
The full-size palace was built around 75–80 AD and took about five years to finish. It had four wings surrounding a huge formal garden, about 76 by 98 meters (250 by 320 feet). The garden was surrounded by colonnades, which are rows of columns.
The north and east wings had groups of rooms built around courtyards. The east wing had a grand entrance. In the northeast corner was a massive assembly hall. The west wing held important state rooms and a large reception room. The south wing was likely where the owner lived. The north wing has the most beautiful mosaics you can see today.
The palace had about 50 amazing mosaic floors, under-floor central heating, and its own bathhouse. The garden had carefully shaped hedges and trees, plus fountains. The south wing looked out over a huge artificial garden that stretched 91 meters (300 feet) towards the sea, where there was a quay wall. This garden had trees, shrubs, a pond, and a stream.
The palace was decorated with beautiful wall paintings, stucco designs, and colorful marble panels. Just like the proto-palace, foreign artists were needed for this detailed work.
Changes Over Time
The palace was changed a lot in the early 2nd century. It might have even been split into two or more separate villas. A new bath suite was added to the north wing. Around 100 AD, a remarkable new Medusa mosaic was laid over an older one in the center of the north wing.
In the mid-2nd century, even bigger changes happened. An older bath suite was removed, and new baths were built in the garden. The north wing was also redesigned, and four new colorful mosaics, including the Cupid mosaic, were added around 160 AD. More work was being done in the late 3rd century, but it wasn't finished. The north wing was destroyed in a fire around 270 AD.
Who Owned Fishbourne Palace?
One popular idea, suggested by Barry Cunliffe, is that the palace belonged to Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus. He was a local chieftain who was friendly with the Romans and became a king after the Roman conquest. We know about Cogidubnus from a Roman writer named Tacitus and from an inscription found in Chichester. He was given a very important Roman title, which usually only Roman leaders received. Cunliffe believes the palace's construction fits with someone of such high status.
Another idea is that the palace was built for Sallustius Lucullus, a Roman governor of Britain in the late 1st century. If this is true, the palace might have only been used for a few years. A Roman historian said that Lucullus was executed by Emperor Domitian around 93 AD.
Other theories suggest the owner could have been Verica, another British client king, or even Tiberius Claudius Catuarus, whose gold signet ring was found nearby.
The Palace's End
Fire and Abandonment
There's strong evidence that the north wing of the palace was completely destroyed by a fire around 270 AD. Rubble, melted fittings, and burnt doors were found. The tiles were discolored from the extreme heat. The east wing wasn't burned, but its baths were taken down around 290 AD.
It's not clear if the fire was an accident or on purpose. This period was a time of trouble when a Roman commander named Carausius rebelled against Rome's control over Britain. It's possible the palace's destruction was part of this wider unrest.
Everything inside the palace was destroyed, and only the walls were left standing. The damage was too great to fix, so the palace was abandoned and later taken apart. Rising water levels and flooding in the area might have also played a role in the decision not to rebuild. Over the years, people from Chichester took stones from the site to use for their own buildings. That's why only the stone foundations remain today.
The palace site was later used as a burial ground by early Saxons. During the Middle Ages, the palace lay buried under layers of soil and was forgotten until it was found again in the 19th century.
Fishbourne Palace Today
The Sussex Archaeological Society built a museum over the excavated palace. This helps protect and preserve some of the remains right where they were found. The museum covers one entire wing of the palace. The gardens have been replanted with plants that would have grown in Roman Britain, like roses, lilies, and fruit trees.
A team of volunteers and archaeologists continues to research the site. They are looking for possible military buildings and a harbor area near the palace. The museum was temporarily closed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Sussex Archaeological Society lost a lot of money, but they raised funds to keep maintaining the palace. Fishbourne Roman Palace has since reopened to the public and welcomes visitors.
Images for kids
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Re-planted garden using authentic plants
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Stucco fragment from Fishbourne
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Shell mosaic with dolphins
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Walled City mosaic, room N7
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Dolphin mosaic
