Chichester & the South Coast

[GhostOfClayton]

With referecne to this thread, myself and Mrs OfClayton never managed our Kentish visit in 2010. So, we're all the more determined to do something similar in 2011. To that end, we've booked a week on the Isle of Wight (to see Brading Roman Villa and Newport Roman Villa), and a week near Chichester (to see Fishbourne Palace.)

 

What other Roman stuff should I be aimng to see whilst I'm down there?

Edited February 11, 2011 by GhostOfClayton

[Melvadius]

Personally there are two Romano-British sites I would recommend as well worth a visit which are reasonably near to Chichester:

Butser Farm

 

And

 

Bignor Roman Villa - OK not an 'authentic' location but well worth it for the recreation of an Iron Age settlement when I was there and possibly the Roman 'villa' reconstruction which was built since - I wish they could have finished Peter's original attempt rather than demolishing and starting again

 

Then on the military side there is of course Portchester Castle just the other side of Portsmouth.

[gilius]

Newport Villa is much better than Brading IMO! So try to make the effort to see the former. I've never been inside Chichester Museum before, otherwise there is nothing Roman to see, as the walls are completely medieval now. Portchester Castle is a bit overated IMO. The best shore forts south, for me, were Lympne, Richborough and Pevensey. Dover's Painted House doesn't get a mention in Buildings Of Roman Britain, even though it's the best for painted wall plaster (plus you can see the barracks and part of the forts). Bignor is superb! Another great villa to visit is North Leigh in Oxfordshire, but that's going out of your way.

 

1) Fishbourne

2) Richborough

3) Painted House, Dover

4) Newport Roman Villa

5) Pevensey

6) Lympne

7) Portchester Castle

8) Brading

 

Rockbourne Roman Villa is also great, but maybe not quite up there with Bignor. Also, this is worth a visit on Vectis:

 

 

 

[GhostOfClayton]

OK. I can now report back on my trip.

 

On the way down, I stopped in at the much overlooked Lunt Roman Fort, near Coventry.

 

 

Other than the gateway and a long stretch of turf fortification, they also have a granary (which houses the excellent museum), and their USP, the Gyrus. The two chaps that ran the place were great guys, and clearly experts - I tried to interest them in UNRV. Maybe they'll join.

 

It was then over to the Isle of Wight (Vectis). For a number of Roman visits, the first and best of which was Brading Roman Villa. This, on its own, is worth the trip over from the mainland. A large number of well-preserved mosaic floors (including the famous Medusa mosaic), well presented and explained.

 

Whilst on the island, but not worth a special trip, is Newport Roman Villa. As far as archeological sites are concerned, this is overshadowed by its bigger cousin at Brading, but should not be overlooked. Although small, it is well presented with some interesting finds, and a number of mosaic floors. A very likeable little museum which, due to housing covering much of the site, is not likely to grow any time soon.

 

That's almost it for Vectis, but I must comment on Carisbrook Castle. A quick look at the OS Map reveals that the castle was built on the remains of a Roman Fort. it's a nice place to visit, and has a rich history, good museum, loads of information, etc, but not one word about its Roman origins. Shame on you, English Heritage! Oh well!

 

I can't leave the Isle of Wight without acknowledging that Gilius mention Combley Roman Villa at Robin Hill. As near as I could tell (correct me if I'm wrong), but you needed to pay to get into Robin Hill (the Alton Towers of the Isle of Wight ) in order to see this. I chose not to.

 

Anyway - whizzing back to the mainland, next stop is Portchester Castle. The main draw here for Romanophiles are the walls. Much of them almost original height and of original stone, the only real disappointment is the very small amount of emphasis is placed on the castle's Roman origins in the audio tour and museum. Once again, shame on you, English Heritage!

 

Next, it was over to Chichester to view the highlight (for me) of the trip - Fishbourne Roman Palace. What an utter delight! Starting with a talk by an expert using a detailed model. He really knew his stuff, and his enthusiasm was infectious. Then there was a film about the story of how the villa was originally found, excavated and investigated (with Tony Robinson as narrator!). This was followed by a trip round the museum, which included a session with two of the Palace's 'Friends' each dressed in Roman costume, who had put together a few Roman titbits for us to sample. They had done a lot of experimental work with Roman cookery, and were a joy to talk to. They must've beeen glad when I'd gone! Now a chance to have a look at the excavations themselves. Mostly inside, but some outside, they are beautifully preserved and presented.

The outside includes an experimental Roman garden with a little talk with a pre-recorded model Roman gardner. Interesting! I could've then moved over to the building in which the finds are kept, investigated, etc., but Mrs ofClayton's eyes were beginning to glaze over, so we moved on into Chichester.

 

Once you're past the walls (which are almost on a par with Portchester), there isn't much Roman stuff to see. The museum was closed for an extensive period for relocation, so I can't comment. There was a little bit of masonary from the forum on display in one of the car parks behind Marks & Spencer, but that was about it.

 

Having been to Fishbourne, it would be easy to sneer at my last two sites (Bignor and Rockbourne) as puny by comparrison. They are! But I'm hard to put off, so off I went to Bignor. This is a well presented site with many of the mosaics presented within unique Georgian covering buildings. A small museum is more than compensated for by the impressive array of mosaic floors.

 

Last up was Rockbourne Villa. Less in the way of mosaics, more in the way of masonary in an outdoor setting. I don't want to knock it, but it wasn't too well laid out. It tended to concentrate on the developement of the villa, which was very interesting. Lack of funding was apparent, though. Go there! It needs your support.

 

Just one more thing to say. On the outside chance that any of the staff of these sites reads this, I'd just like to offer my thanks. Every single one I spoke to was friendly, helpful and knowlegable. A credit to the tourist industry.