Roman grid, Norman spire, and Goodwood — Sussex's elegant Roman city
Chichester preserves the most complete Roman street grid in England — four main streets still follow the Roman cardo and decumanus exactly, meeting at the medieval Market Cross. The Norman cathedral has a remarkable detached bell-tower (one of only four in England) and a Marc Chagall stained glass window. Chichester Harbour Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty surrounds the city, and Goodwood racetrack and motor circuit are minutes away.
Chichester was the Roman civitas capital of the Regnenses tribe — Noviomagus Reginorum — and the most Romanised town in Britain before the conquest, given that the local king Cogidubnus had already allied with Rome. The Fishbourne Roman Palace (discovered 1960), just outside the city walls, is the largest Roman residence north of the Alps, with the finest in situ mosaic floors in Britain. The medieval cathedral was built partly from Roman material and still uses the Roman street plan as its orientation.