Fishbourne is the largest Roman residence north of the Alps. For centuries it slumbered beneath the Sussex soil until in 1960 the alert operator of a JCB spotted Roman material in the trench he was digging.  After several seasons of archaeology a huge site was unearthed: a building complex of over a hundred rooms with mosaics of the highest quality.  It was so magnificent - far beyond any villa in Britain - that it was dubbed a palace.   No one knows who lived there; but it is quite likely that it belonged to a British king who ruled the local tribe, the Regnenses, on behalf of the Romans.  The historian Tacitus says about this king: is ad nostram usque memoriam fidissimus mansit - 'He stayed most loyal down to our own times'[c. A 98].   

We had a good look over the five and a half acre site and an informative session learning about building materials.               

Year 7 will shortly find out more of this king - through the medium of Latin.