Year 7 to Fishbourne
By Nick
Feb 23, 2009 - 5:37:28 PM
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.