Town in Sussex, southeast England, best known for its Roman-style villa/ palace of the 1st century ad, a four-hectare extravaganza, possibly put up for and by the British king (of the tribe of the Regni) Cogidubnus, a noted Romanophile. The site lies near to Chichester, which was first fort and then civitas capital of the Regni. Earlier buildings at Fishboume include a sizeable stone mansion with baths, garden and rich decoration, possibly dating from the 60s ad, which some take to be an earlier palace. Soon after 75 ad came the palace itself, consisting of four colonnaded wings around an oblong formal garden. Apart from the evident luxury of the scale and standard of decoration, the presence of an assembly hall and a separate audience hall approached through a monumental entrance (across the formal garden) suggest a palatial function. Alterations and rebuilding during the 2nd century, after the death of Cogidubnus, imply continued use at least as a very important villa. The late 3rd and early 4th centuries brought more modest use and some limited new adaptations, but a serious fire seems to have caused damage that was uneconomic to repair. Notable features include the discovery of bedding trenches for hedges, terracotta pipelines to fountains, a black-and-white geometric mosaic, and another with Cupid riding centrepiece to a medley of marine creatures.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied