Fishbourne Palace and Bignor Roman Villa
2C enjoyed a taste of Roman luxury, country-house style, at these two brilliant examples of grand villas near the South coast.
At Fishbourne Palace, as well as taking time to design our own villa and imagine life as one of King Togidubnus’ court, we viewed the fascinating mosaic remains, and then wandered around the grounds, planted with box hedges to the original design, and sampled the huge variety of unusual herbs and vegetables in the Roman kitchen-garden.
Then, it was interesting to compare a (slightly!) less grand farmstead nestling in the middle of the Sussex Downs at Bignor Villa. There was a very interesting tour, thanks to Mr Smith the current curator, who explained the various stages of mosaic development, and gave us a display of Roman Legionary equipment. After a final viewing of the famous Medusa bath-mosaic we had to bid farewell to the luxuries of underfloor hypocaust heating and attendance by slaves and return with some regret to the modern world. Another edifying day out with the Classics & History departments!
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