Two Sussex palaces named best Roman sites in UK

Fishbourne Roman Palace in Chichester and Bignor Roman Villa in Pulborough ranked sixth and seventh respectively.

Hadrian’s Wall took top spot in the list of the top Roman sites in the UK, compiled by historian Dan Snow.

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The Roman Baths in Bath took second place, followed by Chedworth Roman Villa in Cheltenham, Cirencester and Chester Roman Amphitheatre.

Fishbourne Roman Palace in Chichester

Fishbourne Roman Palace, the highest ranking Sussex landmark, was built in 75AD on the site of a Roman supply compound.

As the largest Roman residential site in Britain, it provides an insight into Roman Britain and contains a large collection of mosaic work.

Evidence suggests that in the late third century, Fishbourne was destroyed by a fire, leaving only the palace walls standing.

Left beyond repair, the site was never rebuilt, with its remains lying lost and forgotten until their discovery in the 1960s.

Today, the palace is run by the charity Sussex Past and is open to tourists.

Bignor Roman Villa in Pulborough

Bignor Roman Villa hosts the remains of a third century ancient Roman home and some of the best-preserved Roman mosaics in the country.

Finds from the site hint to an initial homestead dating from the end of the first century, while structural evidence points to the existence of a timber farm around 190AD.

Today, Bignor Roman Villa contains several living rooms, a bathhouse and even the underfloor heating systems employed by Roman engineers.

The villa has been owned by the Tupper family since 1811, when George Tupper stumbled upon Roman remains while he was ploughing.

The remainder of the top ten is made up of Vindolanda and Housesteads Roman Fort, both in Northumbria, and The Museum of London.