Archaeological Timeline of the Fishbourne Area
The archaeological record around Fishbourne spans at least seven thousand years. Long before the Roman Palace was built, long before the Domesday commissioners recorded the manor, people lived and worked in this sheltered corner of the Sussex coastal plain.
Mesolithic Period (c. 5000–4000 BC)
The earliest evidence of human activity in the Fishbourne area comes from Mesolithic flint tools recovered during excavations in the 1990s. These worked flints, dating to approximately 5000–4000 BC, indicate that hunter-gatherer communities were present in the area during the Middle Stone Age, exploiting the rich resources of the coastal margins and tidal creeks.
Chichester Harbour and its surrounding inlets would have provided abundant food sources: fish, shellfish, wildfowl, and the plant resources of the saltmarsh and foreshore.
Pre-Roman Activity
Evidence of Iron Age activity in the Fishbourne area is limited but suggestive. The wider Chichester region was part of the territory of the Atrebates, a Belgic tribe whose political centre was at Noviomagus Reginorum, modern Chichester. The harbour inlet at Fishbourne would have been a natural landing place, and it is likely that the site had some significance before the Roman arrival.
Roman Military Base (c. 43 AD)
The earliest Roman structures at Fishbourne date to the period immediately following the invasion of Britain in 43 AD. Excavations revealed the remains of timber military buildings, granaries and store buildings, consistent with a military supply base serving the invasion force. The harbour at Fishbourne provided a sheltered anchorage, ideal for landing troops and supplies.
The military phase was short-lived. Within a decade, the military buildings were demolished and replaced by civilian structures.
Timber Buildings (c. 50s–60s AD)
After the military withdrawal, a series of increasingly sophisticated timber-framed buildings were constructed on the site. These buildings included bath houses with hypocaust heating, an unusual luxury for civilian structures in first-century Britain, suggesting that the occupant was a person of considerable wealth and status.
The Proto-Palace (c. 65–75 AD)
Before the great stone palace was built, an intermediate structure was erected, sometimes called the "proto-palace." This was a substantial masonry building with mosaic floors and painted walls, larger and more elaborate than a typical Romano-British villa. It appears to have been demolished to make way for the final palace complex.
The Palace (c. 75–80 AD)
The great palace was constructed around 75–80 AD. Built around a formal garden in the Mediterranean style, it covered approximately 500 feet by 500 feet and included over 100 rooms, colonnaded walkways, bath suites, and an audience chamber. The mosaic floors and painted wall plaster are among the finest examples of Roman decorative art found in Britain.
The palace was destroyed by fire around 270 AD. The cause of the fire is unknown. It may have been accidental, or it may reflect the political instability of the later third century.
Read more about the Roman Palace →
Later Excavations (1995–99)
Further excavations were conducted at and around the palace site between 1995 and 1999, led by John Manley and David Rudkin. These later digs recovered approximately 12,000 artefacts and significantly expanded understanding of the site's pre-Roman and post-Roman phases. The Mesolithic flints that push the area's human history back to 5000 BC were found during these campaigns.