My father was a civil engineer who knew Aubrey Barrett, the Portsmouth Water Company engineer who found the palace remains. As a consquence, we were allowed to visit he site soon after the dig started which meant I had to peer down some muddy holes in the ground whilst Dad conversed with an enthusiastic young chap whom I now realise was the distinguished archeologist Sir Barry Cunliffe at the very start of his career.

"The engineer" got for the credit for discovering the Roman Villa, but, it was in fact my uncle Tony Osborne who was operating the digger that turned the soil and saw the first evidence - not the bloke in charge!

I grew up a few miles away from Fishbourne Roman Palace. My parents still live in the area and their garden backs off onto farmer's fields which eventually come to where the palace is situated. For years I have been meaning to do some metal detecting, starting from my parents garden and across the fields towards the palace. It's safe to assume that with such an important Roman site nearby there must be a wealth of as yet undiscovered archeology in the general area.

And this huge building complex was totally lost and unknown. Amazing. Like the huge buildings now lost in London- an Ampitheater as large as the Colosseum in Rome, a Basilica as large as St, Peter's- all lost.

The central heating may have come from the bath house which probably lies under my neighbour's house and the fires for the heating would have been under my living room. None of us are allowed to dig deeper than 18 inches in our gardens without informing the archaeologists.

I don't think you were clear about the wooden posts & sunken floor. The wooden posts were cut; the floor was leveled; then the floors were finished with mosaics. The wood under the floor rotted away over time to cause the sunken area.

No central heating could be that it was warmer in Sussex back then (Roman warm period, growing vines in Lincolnshire etc)...then it got colder

Thrilled to see this documentary. For anyone interested in the maybes and possibles there is a book, The Body in the BathHouse by Lindsey Davis, which is set on the site when the palace was being constructed. She had a lot of help writing it from archaeologists on the site with many of the details of the build and if you want a fictional version of what may have been happening and how it may have been built, rebuilt and changed/rebuilt yet again according to the whims of the owner then I highly recommend reading this book. So glad to finally see images of what it looks like on the ground having only really known the layout and diagrams shown in the book (drawn with help from those working on the site itself).

Visited over 50 yrs ago and impressed then, they've uncovered a lot more since so must go back. Wonder if I'll get in for free next time?

Amazing. That front door he came through at the beginning didn't look more than twenty years old

I went there many years ago when i was a child on caravan holidays I am now 67 and live in Australia since 1989. I was born in Portsmouth and lived in Fareham until going to Australia I miss the history I loved it.

Thank you for Sharing that incredible bit of our History.

Thanks for posting and sharing. Very interesting to hear about and see parts of the palace.

It's so amazing how much history is beneath our feet.

Went there on a school trip in the 70s, loved it.

GREAT British find. On this palace place. So awesome.

Visited Fishbourne Palace a few years back, nearby Bignor Roman Villa is well worth a visit too (I actualy preferd it).

Some of those styles would go nice in homes today

Just down the road from me. Its worth a visit if you can. That fancy complete mosaic is just incredible to see.

👍👌👏 Simply fantastic!

Thanks for giving me a glimpse into my family history.

Thanks for sharing this. I had never heard of this area before.

Visited there yesterday with my wife. Absolutely amazing!

The mosaics in Tunisia are out of this world done at the height of the Roman empire. You will find that the art of mosaic detail starts to decline about 100ad.

That's so neat!

Fabulous place..

Interesting symbolism.

Phukin fascinating

I live here now fascinating to learn this stuff

imagine looking at an exhibit like this and drawing conclusions from it

VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY INTERESTING

l'm glad you stick to the convention of calling small towns as sleepy corners - the other alternative is that it's a bustling community.

The mosaic with Cupid needs a further look. Firstly the fan designs at the corners are odd, the edges around the the mosaic are different too, where the bird is. Three outside lines go one way the fourth goes another. Not shown is the skeletal remains, the outside is just as stunning too. Been there three times, it's just as stunning. If I'm still breathing next year I'm going again.

Early, but almost certainly not the earliest dated mosaics in Britain. Although nothing like as big, there are some small pieces of Roman mosaic in Exeter Museum from the Roman military bathhouse there that are earlier - around 65AD.

Wow

In Libya you can walk across Roman artifacts. In Tripoli at the end of September street you can walk under roman arch's containing roman statues!

I want to learn and know everything. But everything is constantly being created. So it's endless, as life. Isn't it wonderful ?

Emperor Constantine lived here before he Christianized the Roman Empire. Names have meaning attached to them.

Mr History Hit is fit!

This mosaic will be there long after we're all gone. That's why it's so important to stop squabbling and choose love over conflict. We're here such a short amount of time

No heating works? Perhaps it WAS the original Fishbourne Palace built in the 1600's or 1700's but an Italian was likely hired to put down the tiles in a Roman style.

Yo make this famous

Bignor villa is my favourite

shh, don't give the next inhabitant of no10 ideas as for floor redecorations, now that wallpapers turn out to be slightly problematic.

Roman town drunk when asked the backstory: "I'm a failed engineer. My stuff will only last 600 years."

Very first Tile R Us showroom ! Mystery solved 😉

The national trust have now withdrawn concessions required by primary legislation for the 1.8 circa severely disabled and blind who wish to visit these national heritage houses. The national trust was originally set up to allow access for the nation of the national heritage.Recent years they have taken on too many liabilities and have seen a drop in numbers of visitors to the sites. This as a trust gets tax exceptions for the public good the trust brings to all UK citizens. It is argued that they exclude the poorest in society and ignore primary legislation for access of the severely disabled they are in breach of their charity status. They are effectively a commercial organization which no longer qualify for taxpayer exemptions as a trust. The choice to the organization is to comply with the legal rules concerning the status of a trust and concessions.Or simply change their tax status to a commercial organization and pay full corporation tax.There are believed to be some twenty percent of charities who are commercial organizations in the UK sheltering as charities which are in fact commercial organizations. The voters are up in arms about this change and want the charitable status withdrawn immediately and full corporation tax paid to the treasury as a result.

I would of loved to see this laid I know weird but I bet it was only a few guys doing it and how did they know about this system?? Maybe someone can tell me

✌️👊

Just because the one mosaic is better quality doesn't actually mean its newer. In ancient Egypt the more precisely made objects are older.

Shout a bit louder Dan! The music is overpowering

Central heating engineers...Oh you mean the fire slaves, right on

Hmm.

💚💫💜💫💚

He is rediculously handsome

Music is too loud

Very little is know, because it wasn't a palace at all, it was a trade market. Its not a mystery why it didn't have heating, the market had its own fires, the fancy tile represents the vendors around it. The wooden pillars was just to support the large roof over it. I'm not sure why that wasn't obvious at first, maybe they wanted to think it was a palace because of the fancy tile work? But that doesn't matter, because even normal roman homes would have that to some degree. Maybe it was reused later, for adding heat. But the idea that they just made this fancy tile floor that remained, but no other supporting structure survived thinking it was a palace is absurd notion.

"Have you ever embraced someone dying of plague, Sire?"

Good place to linger for hours -

Great idea Dan ,thanks for bringing up the hypercaust! That's what happened when a rave of Nordic tourists may have popped over as mentioned @ 5:30 and burnt down the party venue. Vikings do get a bit feisty on holiday.They hadn't seen a hypocaust before and maybe left a statement , they preferred fighting the English? Who knows, who knows......

It would be helpful for those of us “across the pond” to get a little geography lesson-where is the UK is Rutland?

Perhaps it was a "show home" and training academy for how to build the Roman way?

What about a school to teach mosaic craftsmanship?

The romans built big solid buildings in Britain but the middle ages are all wood. Odd to see it go backwards.

Seems like Britain has a lot of amateurs who love digging up artifacts, but could give two 💩 about the history. It's all about "hey look how important I am now" instead of "oh maybe that should be studied in situ by an expert".

turns out it was just a mosaic shop...

I love chichester

went not long ago. Needs a lick of paint tbh

Plumbers always trying to find an excuse not to do their job…Fecker never ran the waterline

Quentin Tarantino's brother?

Roman Empire meant PROGRESS and CIVILIZATION....and local globalization ........ LET'S MAKE Roman Empire GREAT AGAIN ☝️😃

I thought the Roman’s kept great records?

Roman? Wake up and examine the details of the exquisitely ornate surround of the mosaic tile flooring.

The sound is too low, I have several problems listening to him.

It never was a palace. First mosaic sales shop in Britannia

I bet you didn't have to pay the entrance fee

How tall are you? You could barely get in the door?

Someone should steal some of that and put it in a museum in Athens

It's British not roman.

Trojan treasure bellows

Hah! you dont fool us, we know you stole that shit!

Can you explain why there is Celtic artwork, and why the Welsh one at Caermead was Covered back over? Is it cause its in Wales and the Celtic artwork is more prominent. They aren't Roman built, but Roman inspired due to the good relations between Rome and Britain that was good. The Roman invasion of Britain was a Middle age lie designed to Relegate The Britons (Welsh) standing. The Floor shows there was building on the site Pre Roman times. And the artwork shows The British origins in Troy, the Horse and Sea tail in a clearly depiction of the Trojan Horse and their travel across the Med to Britain. The Notion that a Warm country such as Italy Creating central heating via the Romans is utterly ridiculous, this shows the mental gymnastics modern academia do in order to fit a pre conceived narrative.

britain? alps? wut?

Maybe the children of Jezus Christus went from Palestina to England. 🤗

Something I would love too know is why buildings are no longer standing I’m sure we have some buildings from before 1700 still standing why is it all the romans buildings where destroyed

hi

Given as a traitor, because he could not get his own way, he invited the Romans over to booster his force, he and his family became puppets of the Roman Empire

Look, great, thanks, but. This is supposed to be a documentary. What we want to see is the thing, not the presenter. Maybe 80% object, 20% presenter makes sense. You have it nearly reversed. Why? Think!

Fca peeps??

Fishbourne is a British palace built in the Roman style. That doesn’t make it Roman, any more than an Italianate house in Britain is Italian.

Oh look a big huge cross in the middle of the Mosaic. Parts of Britain became Christian in 36 37 ad. So more than likely British not Roman

Học y dược học cổ truyền của dân tộc Palestine và Israel và Palestine sani towels 1931 và Người Pháp jean Paul sartre pháo hoa rực rỡ nó sẽ có một số hình ảnh của một người phụ nữ mang thai so sinh đôi của các nhà khoa học và Philippines và charlier ngan ngữ Nga hy vọng sẽ có một số hình ảnh của một người phụ nữ mang thai nhi lùng và cô ấy và bây giờ hết ở đây là một trong những ngày đầu năm mới giáp ngọ

Yea my bois the romans had a palace larger then the royal family of england haha

Cool stolen stuff Brit’s

If it's a mystery then the story can not be told can it?

Fake

Just a story You still know NOTHING!!

Trust us to give it such a shit name.

British people think they are so great with all their titles and monarchy 🇺🇸 is the real king 👑

Wow