Fishbourne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the village on the Isle of Wight, see Fishbourne, Isle of Wight
Fishbourne is a village and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, situated 2 miles 3.2km west of Chichester. The name derives from fissaburna/fiseborne/fysshburn, all meaning "stream with fish". There is a Fishbourne located in New Jersey, USA which was founded by people from West Sussex.
Fishbourne is the location of a major archaeological site known as Fishbourne Roman Palace. On the site have been found remains dating to around the time of the Roman Invasion of Britain in AD 43. One theory is that this was the site of one of the landings by the Romans designed to secure the 'friendly' tribe of the Atrebates, whose King Verica had fled his enemies for Roman protection. Subsequently, the wooden buildings were replaced by one of the greatest Roman palaces in the Roman world. The palace was damaged by fire at the end of the Third Century and never rebuilt.
The village had a population of 1737 (1991 census). There are three public houses.
