The secrets of Roman and Norman Chichester

“But it's ours, and we like it!”

James, archaeology officer with Chichester District Council, will be giving a fascinating insight into just why at this year’s Festival of Chichester

For several years, James organised digs in Priory Park, unearthing Chichester history including evidence of mediaeval, Roman and Norman occupation. James will explain

what he's discovered and how it has added to our knowledge.

Under the title Romans And Normans Playing In The Park, he will be speaking on Monday, June 22 at 19:30 in the Assembly Room, The Council House, North Street, Chichester, PO19 1LQ in a special Four Cities event, organised by Chichester’s four twinning organisations.

The talk will be followed by refreshments representing Chichester's four twin cities. Tickets £12 via https://www.ticketsource.com/chichesters-4-cities

“I will be talking about an archaeology project that we did in Priory Park from 2016 until last year. What happened was that an amateur geophysicist David Staveley who had his own kit wanted to come to Chichester to do some ground-penetrating radar. He wanted to find the Roman streets of Chichester but if you do that on the streets then you tend to find sewage and electricity and things like that. So I said why don't you try Priory Park and he found some really interesting things.

“The results were so amazing that I managed to persuade the District Council to fund a modest community archaeological dig. We started south of the Guildhall and we managed to establish that there was a private bath suite there, a private bathhouse at the back of a very posh Roman townhouse. The bathhouse had survived remarkably well. The thing to remember is that with a bathhouse you have the under-floor heating and it was that heating system that survived. It was in a very, very remarkable state of preservation. It is now covered up. The townhouse was timber framed and so was not quite so well preserved.

“We carried on until 2022 on that side of the Guildhall investigating the Roman sites and then we went around to the top of the Guildhall and looked at the mediaeval sites. I'm working on a report at the moment which will be published but we've got some 3D photographic images that people can look at.

“The thing about Chichester is that because it has been occupied for the best part of a thousand years and because for the best part of nearly 900 years there was no organised system for refuse and sewage removal, people tended to dig holes at the bottom of their gardens. They would poo into a hole and then when it was nearly full they would put rubbish on top of that.”

Which archaeologically can be fascinating.

But the consequence is that it destroys most of the Roman evidence beneath it: “So you have to tend to look at places that have not been developed.”

Hence the Priory Park successes which James will be discussing for this year's Festival Chichester.

“Chichester is a good place to be. My colleagues in Canterbury and Winchester would argue the toss. But certainly Chichester is very interesting. It is not the best preserved Roman or mediaeval town in England but it's ours and we like it.”