The Romano-British villa at Borough Farm lies in the West Sussex Weald, in the hinterland between Chichester (Noviomagus Reginorum) and the chalk Downs. Like comparable Wealden sites, it likely originated as a modest agricultural establishment in the late 1st or 2nd century AD and developed into a more substantial residence by the 3rd–4th centuries, though precise occupation dates here are not securely established.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The site sits within the densely villa-populated territory of the Regni, an area of intensive Romanised rural settlement focused on Fishbourne and Chichester. It would have functioned as part of the mixed agricultural economy supplying the civitas capital, and possibly linked to the wider Wealden iron industry that operated across this landscape.
Little has been formally published about Borough Farm specifically; the site is known primarily from surface finds, possible aerial or geophysical indications, and the recovery of Romano-British material (typically tile, pottery, and building debris) characteristic of villa sites in this region. No detailed excavation record is available to me, and any structural plan, mosaics, or bath suite — features common at better-known neighbours like Bignor or Chilgrove — cannot be confirmed for this site.
The Romano-British villa at Borough Farm lies in the West Sussex Weald, in the hinterland between Chichester (Noviomagus Reginorum) and the chalk Downs. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a villa site from the Roman period in Britain.
Romano-British villa at Borough Farm is classified as a Roman villa — a civilian site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Roman barrow at Broomershill, 200m south east of Brocks Rew Farm (1.1 km), Pulborough (1.9 km), Lickfold (2.5 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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