Fishbourne Roman Palace
F ishbourne Roman Palace, located in the village of Fishbourne in West Sussex, England, is the largest known Roman residence ever discovered north of the Alps. Built in the first century AD on the site of earlier Roman military grain stores established following the Emperor Claudius's invasion of Britain in 43 AD, the palace was a structure of exceptional scale and sophistication. The rectangular building was organised around formal gardens, sections of which have since been reconstructed to their approximate Roman appearance.
The palace underwent significant modification over the course of its use. In the second and third centuries AD, many of the original black and white mosaic floors were replaced or overlaid with more elaborate coloured designs, including a mosaic depicting a dolphin that survives in near-perfect condition in the north wing. Further alterations were under way when the palace was destroyed by fire around 270 AD. Following the fire, the building was abandoned rather than rebuilt, and the site gradually fell into obscurity.
Local tradition long held that a Roman building of significance once stood in the area, but systematic investigation did not begin until 1960, when workmen laying a water pipe accidentally uncovered a section of wall. Barry Cunliffe, an archaeologist from Oxford University, led the subsequent excavations. The remains proved so extensive and elaborate that the site was designated a palace rather than a villa, and a museum was established -- administered by the Sussex Archaeological Society -- to preserve the exposed remains and display finds from the site. A programme of ongoing archaeological work continues on nearby land, where additional Roman-era structures, possibly of military character, are believed to exist.
In its completed state, the palace comprised four substantial wings arranged around a central garden. The north and east wings contained suites of private rooms grouped around internal courtyards, with a prominent monumental entrance at the centre of the east wing. The north-east corner accommodated an assembly hall. The west wing housed official state rooms, including a large ceremonial reception space and a gallery, while the south wing contained the private living quarters of the owner. At its maximum extent, the palace contained as many as fifty mosaic floors, underfloor heating, and a private bathhouse, and its overall footprint of approximately 150 metres square made it roughly comparable in size to the great imperial palaces of Italy.
The identity of the palace's original owner remains a matter of scholarly debate. Barry Cunliffe himself proposed that the palace was built for Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus, a British chieftain who allied himself with Rome following the Claudian invasion and was reportedly rewarded with authority over several territories. Cogidubnus is mentioned favourably in the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus, and an inscription honouring him was discovered in the nearby city of Chichester. A competing theory, advanced by Miles Russell of Bournemouth University, proposes that the building's close architectural parallels with the Domitianic palace in Rome point to a later construction date, and that the palace was more likely built for a Roman governor of Britain named Sallustius Lucullus. Lucullus is recorded as having been executed by the Emperor Domitian shortly after 93 AD, which, if he was indeed the owner, would mean the palace had been in use for only a brief period.
Additional theories have proposed other possible owners, including a British king named Verica who had ties to the Roman administration before the invasion, and a figure named Tiberius Claudius Catuarus, whose identity came to light following the discovery of a gold ring bearing his name on the site. Whatever the truth of its original ownership, the palace clearly outlasted its first occupant: the building was extensively reorganised in the early second century AD, subdivided into smaller residential units, and again altered in the late third century before the fire of 270 AD brought its history to an end.