Fishbourne Roman Palace stands just west of Chichester, in a village whose name became attached to one of the most remarkable archaeological discoveries in Britain. The residence was built around AD 75, several decades after the Roman invasion began in AD 43. Sussex Past describes it as the largest Roman home in Britain; its scale and surviving floors make the site far more than a collection of attractive mosaics.
The palace came to light in 1960 when a contractor cutting a trench for a water main encountered ancient-looking rubble. An exploratory excavation followed in 1961, and major archaeological work between 1961 and 1968 revealed the scale and arrangement of the complex. The museum opened to the public in 1968, allowing visitors to see remains where they were found rather than treating them as movable decoration.
