Bibliography - Britannia, A Journal of Romano-British and Kindred Studies
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The Fishbourne Story, by Ivan D. Margary, published November 1971 in Britannia (vol. 2, article, pp.117-121) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 10723]   View Online

Fishbourne is a village situated about one mile west of Chichester, of which it now forms an outer suburb, for it lies within the city boundary. The main trunk road to Portsmouth passes through it, with detached houses, mostly of Victorian style, on each side, while behind them on the north lay some 14 acres of farm land extending to the Coast Line main railway. Early in 1960 a trunk water-main was carried through these fields by mechanical excavation. Since 1805 Roman material has been known to exist here, and with the assistance of the engineers engaged in the work local archaeologists kept watch. The results were soon dramatic, for huge blocks of masonry were dislodged, together with tesserae, while the pottery found included some of Claudian date. Clearly a proper excavation was necessary, and arrangements for this were made.

Late Romans and Saxons in Sussex, by M.G. Welch, published November 1971 in Britannia (vol. 2, article, pp.232-237)   View Online

The problem of what happened in Britain in the fifth century A.D. has long fascinated historians, and archaeology is now helping to supplement the meagre written source-material. The county of Sussex is a very useful area to investigate thus, for it contains archaeological evidence which points to a Saxon settlement geographically isolated in the pagan period from the settlements in Kent, Surrey, and Hampshire, and it formed a known independent kingdom.

Spectroscopy and a Roman Cremation from Sompting, Sussex, by C. J. Ainsworth and H. B. A. Ratcliffe-Densham, published November 1974 in Britannia (vol. 5, article, pp.310-316)   View Online

Various forms of spectroscopic analysis are used for the study of human artifacts. Three methods are compared in this note on a large Roman cremation.
The 'Marquis of Granby' Inn (TQ 1612 0521) stands at the foot of the southern slope of the South Downs, in the village of Sompting, to the east of Worthing, in Sussex (FIG. I ). The local soil consists of some 3 ft. of brown earth on chalk. In the course of recent extensions to the inn part of the slope immediately to the north was levelled. A broken urn and 11 associated vessels lay on the buried chalk surface, beneath the extensions, together with a coin of Geta.

Some Observations on the Economy of the Roman Villa at Bignor, Sussex, by S. Applebaum, published November 1975 in Britannia (vol. 6, article, pp.118-132)   View Online

The following examination of the agricultural aspects of Bignor Roman villa was written in 1950, and is here reproduced with a few additions, and with corrections necessitated by the results of Professor S. S. Frere's excavations at the villa in the years 1957-1962.
It is very likely that Lysons, who excavated the villa in the eighteenth century, did not find, or did not record, earlier farm-buildings which may well have preceded those to be seen on his plan. Nor may he have noticed various details or subdivisions of the latter. Nevertheless it seemed worthwhile attempting their analysis in order to resuscitate the general lines of the agriculture practised at Bignor in the fourth century; and while further excavation of the farmyard, if it takes place, will doubtless produce corrections and new facts, the attempt will have been justified if it suggests new considerations and methods. Some of the conclusions of the present study were included in much abbreviated form in the writer's contribution on Roman Britain to The Agrarian History of England, Vol. I, part ii, published in 1972.

More British samian ware by the Aldgate-Pulborough potter, by Peter V. Webster, published November 1975 in Britannia (vol. 6, article, pp.163-170)   View Online

Recent work on the samian ware from a settlement site at Wiggonholt, Sussex, has revealed fragments from a number of vessels by one of the few potters to attempt the production of samian in Roman Britain. This man was called the 'Aldgate Potter' by Dr. Grace Simpson on the basis of a waster from the Aldgate, London, now in the British Museum. However, Dr. Simpson also illustrates mould-fragments belonging to this potter from Pulborough, Sussex, only about one mile from the find-spot of the Wiggonholt fragments which are the subject of this article. As neither waster nor moulds seem likely to have travelled far from the kiln site, it is not at present possible to be certain whether the centre of this potter's production should be sought in London or Sussex, or whether perhaps he operated in both places at different times. However, the Wiggonholt material shifts the geographical balance of known find-spots of the work of this man strongly in favour of Sussex and, in view of this, it seems reasonable to give the Sussex mould-fragments equal significance with the Aldgate waster. The potter is, therefore, called here the 'Aldgate-Pulborough Potter'.

The Iron-Age hill-fort and Romano-British iron-working settlement at Garden Hill, Sussex: interim report on excavations, 1968-76, by J. H. Money, M. G. Fulford and C. Eade, published November 1977 in Britannia (vol. 8, article, pp.339-350)   View Online

The earthwork at Garden Hill, Hartfield, East Sussex, until then unrecognised, was identified in 1968 by Mr C. F. Tebbutt, who found early Romano-British material in a trial excavation. Five seasons of excavation (1972-76) by the Garden Hill Excavation Group have established the broad outline of the site's history. A scatter of worked flints indicates slight occupation in the Neolithic/Bronze Age period. Attributed to the late pre-Roman Iron Age are a round house and part of what may be another. A hill-fort, with stonerevetted and palisaded defences, was built, possibly against the Roman invasion, but soon fell into disuse and was followed by Romano-British occupation. This included a rectangular timber building, roasting- and smeltingfurnaces and a forging-hearth of the first century; a rectangular building with two verandahs, using timber uprights set on padstones and in post-holes, and a four-post structure on the same alignment, both probably first-century; a timber building set on a stone platform and attached stone bath-building, of the second century; and undated post-hole and timber-slot systems (not fully excavated) representing fences and other timber structures. It is possible that Garden Hill was the base from which local iron-smelting sites were operated in the first and second centuries.

A further vessel by the Aldgate-Pulborough potter, by Julian Bennett, published November 1978 in Britannia (vol. 9, article, pp.393-394)   View Online

The gold coinage of Verica, by D.F. Allen and Colin Haselgrove, published November 1979 in Britannia (vol. 10, article, pp.1-17)   View Online

At the end of a recent die-study of the gold coins of Cunobelin, it was suggested that there might be something to learn from a comparable die-study of the gold coinage of Cunobelin's contemporary, Verica. The index of pre-Roman coins kept by the Institute of Archaeology in Oxford now makes such a task feasible without excessive labour. Thanks are again due to Mr Robert Wilkins of the Institute, for arranging and executing the tedious photography involved.
Partly on finds made on beaches near Selsey from 1873 onwards.

A Survey of Tile from the Roman Bath House at Beauport Park, Battle, E. Sussex, by Gerald Brodribb, published November 1979 in Britannia (vol. 10, article, pp.139-156)   View Online

One of the reasons for the Roman invasion of Britain was the hope of exploiting the natural resources of the country. It was not long before there was considerable iron-working in the Weald, especially in the area round Battle, East Sussex. Iron slag is to be seen at several sites, but little excavation of these has taken place. The best evidence for iron-working comes from Beauport Park, where a vast slag heap was discovered in 1862: much of this was removed during the 1870s for road-making, and there was no excavation of the site until the writer began work in 1967, and after three years' search found a building that proved to be a bath-house.

King Cogidubnus in Chichester: another reading of RIB 91, by J. E. Bogaers, published November 1979 in Britannia (vol. 10, article, pp.243-245) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7502]   View Online

One of the best-known inscriptions from Roman Britain was found in 1723 at Chichester. It is a dedication on a slab of Purbeck marble of which the left-hand portion is lost, and the remainder was broken into four pieces during recovery. These are now bound by concrete and built into the wall of the portico at the west face of the Council House in North Street at Chichester (PL. IX). There the inscription is protected by a sheet of plate glass.

Excavations at Chanctonbury Ring, Wiston, West Sussex 1977, by Owen Bedwin, David Rudling, Sue Hamilton, Peter Drewett and Karen Petzoldt, published November 1980 in Britannia (vol. 11, article, pp.173-222)   View Online

Chanctonbury Ring (NGR TQ 139 121) is one of the best known landmarks in Sussex. It consists of a clump of trees, mostly beech, but with occasional sycamore, situated on the very northern edge of the South Downs, about 8 km (5 miles) from the coast (FIG. I). The height above sea-level is 234 m (780 ft.), and the subsoil is Upper Chalk, though several local patches of Clay-with-flints were encountered during the excavation.

The Bignor Villa, by Sheppard Frere, published November 1982 in Britannia (vol. 13, article, pp.135-195)   View Online

The villa at Bignor, West Sussex (SU 987147), is one of the largest and best-known in the province of Britain. First discovered in 1811 during ploughing, it was excavated by Samuel Lysons in annual campaigns until 1818. The plans and mosaics received sumptuous publication; but because of potential expense imposed by the recent Copyright Act which required deposition in various Libraries of 11 copies of any work containing letterpress, no accompanying text was printed. Instead, two papers were published in Archaeologia. These are somewhat summary in description and they contain measurements which are inconsistent both mutually and when compared with the plans. Recent work has added to the plan several walls which Lysons did not find, and has also shown that the well-known plan itself is inaccurate in showing the north and south sides of the courtyard as parallel (FIG. I). In fact they diverge. After cover-buildings had been erected over the principal mosaics and the rest reburied, matters rested for over a century. In 1925 S. E. Winbolt re-excavated and repaired the cold bath (in Room 55), which had been left open without a cover-building; and in 1929 the Venus mosaic (Room 3), whose condition had been deteriorating, was professionally relaid.

A Romano-Celtic temple at Ratham Mill, Funtington, West Sussex, by Anthony King and Grahame Soffe, published November 1983 in Britannia (vol. 14, note, pp.264-266)   View Online

The Excavation of a Roman Tilery on Great Cansiron Farm, Hartfield, East Sussex, by David R. Rudling, Caroline Cartwright, Giles Swift, Sally Foster, John Shepherd, Pat Hinton and Fred Tebbutt, published November 1986 in Britannia (vol. 17, article, pp.191-230) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/501322]   View Online

During the winter of 1981/2 Giles Swift of the Wealden Iron Research Group discovered in a ploughed field on Great Cansiron Farm, Hartfield, East Sussex (TQ 45603835) an area of burnt clay and Roman tile, together with a few pieces of Roman pottery. The site, which lies close to a small stream, is located between an extensive Roman iron-working site to the south-west and possible large Roman iron-ore quarries to the north-east (FIG. 1). In advance of further plough damage, during the summer of 1982 the Field Archaeology Unit (Institute of Archaeology) undertook a trial excavation and survey in order to attempt to interpret and date the site more precisely. This work was funded by the Department of the Environment and East Sussex County Council. The 1982 investigations revealed a well-preserved Roman tile kiln and a rectangular floor of tile and burnt clay. Unfortunately extremely inclement weather during the second half of the excavation meant that it was impossible, given the time and resources available, to finish excavating either of these discoveries. The farmer, Mr Udell, kindly agreed to leave and plough around the excavation area and a second season of excavations was undertaken in 1983 thanks to the financial backing of East Sussex County Council and Keymer Handmade Clay Tiles of Burgess Hill, Sussex. In between the two excavations, staff of the Ancient Monuments Laboratory carried out a geophysical survey of the area to the west of the tile kiln.

The Classis Britannica Bath-house at Beauport Park, East Sussex, by Gerald Brodribb and Henry Cleere, published November 1988 in Britannia (vol. 19, article, pp.217-274)   View Online

In 1849 Mark Anthony Lower published a pioneer paper on the ironworks of East Sussex, but this contained no mention of any ironworking at Beauport Park, near Battle. Ten years later, however, the Rev. S. Arnott, rector of the nearby parish of Hollington, wrote that, although there were no remains of early ironmaking in his parish, 'there is a large cinder-bank in Beauport Park on which grow firs with oak and ash, all planted by the owner, Sir Charles Lamb'.

Amphora stamps from Fishbourne, by Colin Wallace, published November 1988 in Britannia (vol. 19, note, p.406)   View Online

Roman salt production in Chichester Harbour: rescue escavations at Chidham, West Sussex, by Richard Bradley, published November 1992 in Britannia (vol. 23, article, pp.27-44)   View Online

As a schoolboy in the early 1960s the writer discovered a series of Iron Age and Roman salt-production sites along the shoreline of Chichester and Portsmouth Harbours (FIG. 1). These areas were visited intermittently over the next ten years and many of the observations made at that time were published in 1975. That study described the topographical setting of these sites and the character and chronology of the surface finds. It also included some discussion of the economic context of salt-making and its place in the settlement pattern.

A mid-Fifth century hoard of Roman and pseudo-Roman material from Patching, West Sussex, by Sally White, John Manley, Richard Jones, John Orna-Ornstein, Catherine Johns and Leslie Webster, published November 1999 in Britannia (vol. 30, article, pp.301-315)   View Online

A Pre-A.D. 43 Ditch at Fishbourne Roman Palace, Chichester, by John Manley and David Rudkin, published November 2005 in Britannia (vol. 36, article, pp.55-99)   View Online

This article details the first unambiguous evidence for occupation in the Late Iron Age, dating to around 10 b.c.-a.d. 25, at the site that was to develop into the Roman Palace at Fishbourne (near Chichester, Sussex). The collection of sealed and well-dated imported and local pottery, accompanied by food refuse and a copper-alloy scabbard fitting, suggests significant activity at the site a generation prior to the Roman Conquest of a.d. 43. The material was found in the bottom of a ditch that had been deliberately back-filled. As such this discovery opens a new chapter in the remarkable story of Fishbourne.

An Augustan Dressel 2-4 stamped amphora from Chapel Street, Chichester, by David Williams, Ian Scrivener-Lindley and Nicola Dowsett, published November 2010 in Britannia (vol. 41, note, pp.334-339)   View Online

Roman amphora in about 16 pieces kept in Chichester District Museum store since the 1930s.

Note from the Roman Palace at Fishbourne (Sussex): A Roman Magic Lead Figurine?, by Magali Bailliot and Robert Symmons, published November 2012 in Britannia (vol. 43, note, pp.249-260)   View Online

A near life-size, Togate bust from Chichester, West Sussex, by Miles Russell, published November 2013 in Britannia (vol. 44, article, pp.264-270)   View Online

Romano-British bust of a bearded man, now at Princeton. Excavated in the garden of Wycombe House about 1900.

Trajan Places: Establishing Identity and Context for the Bosham and Hawkshaw Heads, by Miles Russell and Harry Manley, published November 2015 in Britannia (vol. 46, article, pp.151-169)   View Online

Two damaged, weathered marble portraits, both discovered in the 1780s at opposite ends of Roman Britain, one at Bosham in West Sussex, the other at Hawkshaw in Peeblesshire, are here re-examined and identified as portraits of the emperor Trajan. The Bosham head is interpreted as a post-mortem image of the deified Trajan set up at the margins of Chichester Harbour, probably during the visit to Britain by the emperor Hadrian in the early a.d. 120s. The Hawkshaw portrait of Trajan appears to have been refashioned from a likeness of Domitian and may originally have been part of a monument created to celebrate and commemorate the total conquest of Britain, in the early a.d. 80s, which was decapitated and buried during a period of unrest on the northern frontier.

A late Roman "Hall" at Batten Hanger, West Sussex, by James Kenny, Malcolm Lyne, John Magilton and Paul Buckland, published November 2016 in Britannia (vol. 47, article, pp.193-207)   View Online

Excavation of the latest surviving structures of the villa at Batten Hanger in West Sussex indicates that a large aisled building was demolished in the late fourth or fifth century and replaced by a large hall 31.6 m long by 11.5 m wide, orientated approximately east-west. The survival of pad stones shows this space to have been divided into seven bays, with the more westerly bays screened off by a cross wall. The east wall of the building had collapsed outwards and was largely complete. A coin of Valentinian III suggests that occupation continued at least to the middle of the fifth century. The Supplementary Material available online (http://journals.cambridge.org/bri) contains a detailed presentation of the coin hoard and the pottery assemblages.