Fishbourne (Noviomagus Reginum) Roman Palace – Quick Facts

Where

Chichester, Sussex Map & Website

When

• Work began on the palace in AD 75. Artisans, designers and builders came from Gaul and Italy to construct this vast villa which covered an area of 2.3 hectares. Fishbourne Roman Palace was as big as imperial palaces found in Rome itself, and had 100 lavishly decorated rooms with mosaic floors and marble walls.
• The palace was extensively renovated over the next two centuries, but in AD 270 the building was destroyed by fire. The damage was so great that the palace could not be repaired so it was abandoned and over the ensuing years dismantled for its building material.

What Remains

• The largest collection of in situ Roman mosaics in Britain.
• Some of the oldest mosaics in Britain laid in the late first century.
• Outside the museum building there are reconstructions of some of the palace gardens from the original layout discovered during excavation.
• An outdoor triclinium, or dining room, has been reconstructed next to raised bed gardens planted with myrtle, pears, wormwood, sage and St. John’s wort, among other plants.