Fishbourne is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the

Chichester Chichester () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publi ...

District of

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

, England and is situated two miles () west of

. The Anglican

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

of Fishbourne, formerly New Fishbourne, is in the Diocese of Chichester. The population in 1861 was 347. The parish church is dedicated to St Peter and St Mary. The civil parish has a land area of . In the 2001 census 1,953 people lived in 840 households, of whom 910 were economically active. There are two

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

s and a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

History

Toponymy

The name Fishbourne derives from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

words (fish) and (stream), and means the stream where

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

are caught. The name of the settlement was recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

in 1086 as .

Domesday Book

Fishbourne is listed the

of 1086 in the Hundred of Stockbridge as having 18 households, two mills, meadows and plough lands, with an annual value of 7 pounds.

Governance

Fishbourne civil parish was created in 1987 from parts of Appledram, Bosham, Chichester and Funtington parishes. The parish falls under the

Chichester District Council Chichester is a local government district in West Sussex, England. Its council is based in the city of Chichester and the district also covers a large rural area to the north. History The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Go ...

ward of Harbour Villages, the

West Sussex County Council West Sussex County Council (WSCC) is the authority that governs the non-metropolitan county of West Sussex. The county also contains seven district and borough councils, and 158 town, parish and neighbourhood councils. The county council has 7 ...

division of Chichester West, and the UK Parliament constituency of

, whose MP since 2017 is

Gillian Keegan Gillian Keegan (born 13 March 1968) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Education. A member of the Conservative Party, she previously served as Minister of State for Care and Mental Health from 2021 to 2022 and Parliamentar ...

of the Conservative Party.

Roman Palace

Fishbourne is the location of

Fishbourne Roman Palace Fishbourne Roman Palace (or Fishbourne Villa) is located in the village of Fishbourne, Chichester in West Sussex. The palace is the largest Roman residence north of the Alps. and has an unusually early date of 75 CE, around thirty years afte ...

, a major archaeological site. On the site have been found remains dating to around the time of the Roman conquest of Britain in AD 43. One theory is that this was the site of one of the landings by the Romans designed to secure the 'friendly' tribe of the Atrebates, whose King

Verica Verica (early 1st century AD) was a British client king of the Roman Empire in the years preceding the Claudian invasion of 43 AD. From his coinage, he appears to have been king of the, probably Belgic, Atrebates tribe and a son of Commius. Th ...

had fled his enemies for Roman protection. Subsequently, the wooden buildings were replaced by one of the greatest Roman palaces in the Roman world. The palace was damaged by fire at the end of the third century and never rebuilt.

Fishbourne Manor

Located at the North end of Appledram Lane South, between the parishes of Appledram and Fishbourne, origins of The Manor can be dated back to the reign of Henry VIII. Fishbourne was annexed to the honor of Petworth in April 1540 and for the first time referred to as a Manor. It is said to have been held of the Crown in chief by 'Sir Thomas White and others' in 1558, but in 1560 the Manor of New Fishbourne was granted to John Fenner, who died on Christmas Day 1566. From 1570, The Manor was owned by Francis Bowyer, alderman of London, and his wife Elizabeth. Their son Sir William Bowyer settled the manor on himself and his wife Mary in 1605, and four years later passed it on his son Henry on his marriage with Anne, daughter of Nicholas Salter. In 1633, The Manor was sold to William Cawley. During The Restoration, Cawley's estates were forfeited and Fishbourne was among the manors given to James, Duke of York. Other recorded owners of The Manor House included Sir John Biggs, Sir Thomas Miller, Dame Susannah Miller, The Rev. Sir Thomas Combe Miller, 6th bart., Edward Stanford and Major-General Byron. The Manor House is dated 1687 on a North wing added to the building by Sir Thomas Miller.

Notable people

British writer,

Kate Mosse Katharine Mosse (born 20 October 1961) is a British novelist, non-fiction and short story writer and Television presenter, broadcaster. She is best known for her 2005 novel ''Labyrinth (novel), Labyrinth'', which has been translated into more ...

, was raised in Fishbourne.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in West Sussex Fishbourne