When In England (Said Vespasian)

Do As The Romans Do

By MARGARET RULE, Curator, Fishbourne Palace

To the south of the All east-west runk road lie the salt marshes and eed-filled creeks of the most easterly rm of Chichester Harbour, in Sus ex. Nineteen hundred years ago, the cene was very different: instead of he roar of articulated lorries thunder ig along the road, the air would ave been filled with the creak and plash of ships lying at anchor, and he sounds of the voices of seamen, lerchants and craftsmen speaking in lany languages would have floated cross the water.

At that time, the creek was still avigable for shallow draught lerchant ships, and since the time f the Roman conquest merchants’ hips from all over the world had ome into Fishbourne Harbour. At rst, they brought supplies for the trmy and, later, building stone, rtists and craftsmen to add the nishing touches to the developing ivil buildings.

The advantages of the site would ave been obvious to Vespasian, who hen commanded the Second Augustan .egion campaigning in Wessex. A roup of wooden store buildings and ranaries were constructed close to he shores of the natural sheltered arbour, which was well protected rom the easterly and south westerly ales, and which lay in the safe ter

ritory of a friendly client king. As the front line moved westward,, the need for a supply base in the Chichester area declined but, by now, the port facilities had been improved, wharves and jetties had been built and a network of street and roads connected the harbour with Chichester and, ultimately, with London.

This settlement continued to develop until the mid-60s, when the timber buildings were demolished and an elaborate masonry house was built on the Southern part of the site. This house was probably the earliest palace of King Cogidubnus. it was lavishly decorated with mosaic and marble inlaid floors and brightly coloured painted walls and, to the south of the living quarters, there was a magnificent range of hot and cold baths.

In 75 AD, there was a complete change of plan, and the site was land scaped in preparation for the con struction of the palace—which is the largest known Roman building in what was the Province of Britain, covering an area of nearly 11 acres.

Its four wings were built to enclose a cen ral courtyard garden which was formally subdivided by a series of gravel paths and shrubs.

The bedding trenches for semi circular and rectangular arcades of

shrubs were found alongside the paths by the archaeologists who excavated the site, and today the garden has been restored to its original plan.

When the palace was built, in 75 AD, craftsmen and artists must have been commissioned to come from Italy to lay the floor-mosaics, prepare the stone wall veneer and marble inlay and paint the frescoes on the walls. At this early date, there would not have been any native craftsmen skilled in this work. The floor mosaics laid in the Palace were in the main stream of Italian mosaic art of the first century. Many of them were sophisticated black and white geometric designs similar to those found at Pompeii. Ostia and Hadrian’s villa, south of Rome. One elaborate polychrome floor-mosaic in the North Wing was decorated with stylised patterns of flowers and buds, with corner motifs of chalices and amphorae supported by dolphins and fish.

In spite of all this grandeur, the Palace was only in use as a single architectural entity for about 25 years. From about 100 until 280 AD. the buildings underwent considerable changes, many new floor-mosaics were laid, new suites of baths were built and underfloor heating was provided in the North Wing for the

first time. The last series of altera tions began in the 280 s and it seems that a major re-building programme was just getting under way when the structure was totally destroyed by fire.

After the fire, the ruin was systematically demolished and all the usable building stone and tiles were taken away for use elsewhere.

For over 1,600 years it lay com pletely forgotten and unsuspected until it was accidentally discovered in 1960, when a Water Board engineer laying an 18 inch water main across open pastureland realised that his mechanical excavator had cut through five masonry walls and two mosaic floors.

For the next eight years, ex ploration of the site continued each season, under the direction of Profes sor Barry Cunliffe, FSA, and in 1963 the site was purchased by the Sussex Archaeological Trust, The entire North Wing of the Palace has been preserved under a modern cover building and the re mains of thirteen floor-mosaics can be seen in situ.