Bignor Roman Villa was discovered by George Tupper, a farmer in 1811 when his plough hit a large stone. The discovery led to the site being excavated by John Hawkins who lived in the nearby Bignor Park, and Samuel Lysons. The site, still owned by the Tupper family opened to the public in 1814.

The villa is situated just north of the South Downs close to Stane Street, about nine miles northeast of Chichester (the Roman city of Noviomagus Reginorum) and the nearby and much larger Fishbourne Roman Palace.^[1] It is on the south-facing slope of a ridge of greensand which provided better conditions for agriculture than the nearby chalk; this fact and its proximity to Roman Chichester meant that the owners were able to become wealthy from farming.^[1]

The existence of a Romano-British farmstead on the site by the end of the 1st century is indicated by finds,^[1] but the earliest structural remains are of a simple timber farm structure dating to around 190 AD.^[2] A four-roomed stone building was built in the middle of the 3rd century AD, and this was extended between c.240 and 290 AD by the addition of a few new rooms, a hypocaust, and a portico that faced east towards Stane Street. *

This building became the western wing when north and south wings were added at the turn of the fourth century.^[2] In its final form, the villa consisted of some sixty-five rooms surrounding a courtyard, with a number of outlying farm buildings.^[2] The latest phase of building involved additions to the north wing between c.300 and 350 AD, and it is here that most of the fine mosaics are located.

The later history of the villa is not well known, but it appears to have gradually declined in status,^[2] rather than suffering a catastrophic fate, such as the fire that destroyed most of Fishbourne Palace.*

* Information from Wikipedia

We enjoyed one last breakfast before checking out of the Norfolk Arms ready to travel to our next destination; Brighton.

I succumbed to the temptation and called in at the Wildlife and Wetlands Centre to purchase a pair of binoculars. I tested them out again eventually settling on a pair that I thought would be best for my needs. I had to wait a short while to purchase them due to a long queue of visitors booking in for a day in the wetlands.

Next, we visited the nearby Bignor Roman Villa; a large Roman courtyard villa discovered by George Tupper when he struck a large stone whilst ploughing his farm in 1811. The villa has some interesting and unique finds.

By now it was time for elevenses so we set off for a nearby village. We never arrived in the village due to being repeatedly drawn back into, what we started to call, the Bury triangle. Instead, we ended up at Petworth just in time for lunch. The eagle eyed will realise that Petworth is in completely the opposite direction to Brighton. The National Trust carpark for Petworth House was full so we left and parked next to the deer park hoping that there would be a lunch opportunity there.

We weren’t disappointed, we found the delightfully named ‘Toast Me Up’ tucked away in one corner of the car park. It was perfect and my toasted sandwich was delicious.

After lunch Mr C headed off towards the coast thinking of a coastal drive towards Brighton. Mr C chose to include Bognor Regis in his itinerary. When we arrived, it was every bit as bad as I thought it would be. Next town along the coast Littlehampton where once again we elected not to stop and continued inland straight to Brighton.

We drove straight to our hotel, the Grand, arriving at the drop off point in front of the hotel. We were greeted by 3 suited and bowler-hatted concierges. Mr C was directed to park his car and, before I could get out of the car, the boot was unpacked and they had whisked Mr C away along with our luggage. When he returned to the car, one of the concierges explained how to get to the car park and back to the hotel.

When I eventually got to the room it was WOW! All that I hoped it would be. We left the bags in the walk-in luggage area and went for a stroll around Brighton before returning to freshen up before dining in the French-styled Bistro du Vin. We had intended to dine in the Cyan restaurant at the Grand but we found that it closes early on a Sunday.

We had a brief visit to Weatherspoon’s before taking a leisurely stroll along the seafront back to the hotel for a nightcap in the bar.