Fishbourne, West Sussex


Fishbourne is a village and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England and is situated two miles west of Chichester. The name derives from fissaburna/fiseborne/fysshburn, all meaning "stream with fish."
by Arthur Evershed, 1907
The Anglican parish of Fishbourne, formerly New Fishbourne, is in the Diocese of Chichester. The population in 1861 was 347. The parish church is dedicated to St Peter and St Mary.
The civil parish has a land area of. In the 2001 census 1,953 people lived in 840 households, of whom 910 were economically active. There are two public houses and a railway station.

Roman palace

Fishbourne is the location of Fishbourne Roman Palace, a major archaeological site. On the site have been found remains dating to around the time of the Roman conquest 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.

Governance

Fishbourne civil parish was created on 1 April 1987 from parts of Appledram, Bosham, Chichester and Funtington parishes. The parish is within the Chichester District Council ward of Harbour Villages, the West Sussex County Council division of Chichester West, and the parliamentary constituency of Chichester, whose MP since 2017 is Gillian Keegan of the Conservative Party.