Roman City Walls Constructed

c. 200 AD

The defensive walls around Noviomagus were built in the late second or early third century AD, enclosing the town in a roughly rectangular circuit of approximately one mile. The walls were constructed of flint rubble with bonding courses of tile and stone, rising to a height of perhaps fifteen to twenty feet with a parapet walk along the top. The enclosed area covered about 100 acres, making Chichester one of the larger walled towns in Roman Britain. The walls followed the line of earlier earthwork defences and were provided with gates at the four principal road entrances, corresponding to the modern North, South, East and West Gates. The reason for building stone walls at this period is debated. Some historians attribute it to a general programme of urban defence across the province in the late second century, while others suggest specific local threats from seaborne raiders. Whatever the motivation, the walls defined the shape and extent of Chichester for the next sixteen centuries. They were repaired and maintained through the Saxon and medieval periods, and substantial sections survive today, incorporated into later buildings or standing free along the circuit. The wall walk, which follows the top of the walls through parks and along residential streets, is one of the most pleasant features of modern Chichester. The walls effectively fixed the city's boundaries until the nineteenth century, when development finally spilled beyond them.