About Fishbourne

A village guide to Fishbourne, near Chichester, West Sussex

Fishbourne is a village on the eastern shore of Chichester Harbour in West Sussex, England. It sits roughly a mile and a half west of Chichester city centre, between the harbour villages of Bosham to the west and Appledram to the south. The South Downs rise to the north, and the harbour opens to the Solent and the English Channel beyond.

The village falls within the Chichester district of West Sussex and the postcode area PO19. It is served by Fishbourne railway station on the West Coastway line, with regular services to Chichester, Brighton, Portsmouth and Southampton.

Two Fishbournes

For most of its history, Fishbourne existed as two separate communities. Old Fishbourne lay within the parish of Bosham, while New Fishbourne belonged to the sub-district of Chichester. Each had its own identity, shaped by different manorial and ecclesiastical boundaries reaching back to the medieval period.

The two communities were formally united in 1987, when a single Fishbourne parish council was created. Today the village functions as one settlement, though the distinction between "Old" and "New" Fishbourne persists in local usage and on older maps.

Geography and Setting

Fishbourne sits at the head of a shallow tidal creek that feeds into Chichester Harbour, one of the few undeveloped estuarine systems on the south coast of England. The harbour is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a Site of Special Scientific Interest, supporting internationally important populations of wading birds and wildfowl.

The land around Fishbourne is low-lying coastal plain, rising gently northward toward the chalk escarpment of the South Downs. The soil is fertile, and the area has been farmed continuously since at least the Roman period. Fields to the north and west of the village contain the remains of Fishbourne Roman Palace, the largest known Roman domestic building north of the Alps.

Amenities and Transport

Fishbourne has a primary school, a parish church (St Peter and St Mary), a village hall and a small number of local businesses. The Bulls Head pub on Fishbourne Road is a well-known local landmark.

The A259 passes through the village, connecting Chichester to the harbour villages and onward to Havant and Portsmouth. Fishbourne railway station, on the southern edge of the village, provides direct rail connections along the coast. Chichester city centre, with its cathedral, shops and services, is less than two miles to the east.

History at a Glance

Archaeological evidence places human activity in the Fishbourne area as early as the Mesolithic period, around 5000 BC. The Romans arrived in 43 AD, and by about 75 AD a large palatial residence had been constructed in fields just north of the modern village. This building, now known as Fishbourne Roman Palace, was discovered by accident in 1960.

The Manor of Old Fishbourne first appears in the Domesday Book of 1086. Its descent runs through Southwick Priory, which held the land for roughly four hundred years, and Anne of Cleves, who received the manor from Henry VIII in 1540 as part of her annulment settlement.