Old Fishbourne

Old Fishbourne lies on the northern shore of Chichester Harbour in West Sussex, within the ancient parish of Bosham. It is one of the oldest documented settlements in the region, with archaeological evidence stretching back to the Mesolithic period.

The manor first appears in the Domesday Book of 1086. A man named Engeler held two hides of land at Fishbourne from the great manor of Bosham, under Earl Roger de Montgomery. The holding had been given to Engeler's father by William the Conqueror, a direct royal gift in the aftermath of the Conquest. The Sussex hide was assessed at eight virgates rather than the standard four, making Engeler's two hides a substantial holding of sixteen virgates.

In the twelfth century, Engeler's son Turstin gave "all my lands of Fisseborn" to Southwick Priory, an Augustinian house founded inside Portchester Castle around 1128 before relocating to Southwick around 1150. The priory held the manor for approximately four hundred years. In 1320, the Crown granted Southwick Priory free warren at Old Fishbourne.

At the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Southwick Priory was surrendered to the Crown in 1538. In 1540, the former priory lands including Old Fishbourne were granted to Anne of Cleves, the fourth wife of Henry VIII, as part of her annulment settlement. The 1540 grant is notable as it contains the first recorded use of the word "manor" in connection with Old Fishbourne. Anne of Cleves lived on in England for seventeen years after the annulment, the "King's Beloved Sister," outliving Henry himself. She died on 16 July 1557 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

The Victoria County History notes that after Anne of Cleves there is no later evidence of the manor's status in the published record, and its subsequent descent has not been traced through the standard sources. The manor presumably reverted to the Crown on her death, as the 1540 grant was personal.

The land at Old Fishbourne continued to be occupied and farmed through the following centuries. In 1960, workmen digging a water main trench uncovered Roman remains on the site. The subsequent excavations led by Barry Cunliffe between 1961 and 1969 revealed Fishbourne Roman Palace, the largest known Roman domestic building north of the Alps, built around 75 AD for a client king of Rome. The palace site lies nearby. In 1987, the civil parishes of New Fishbourne and Old Fishbourne were united into a single parish of Fishbourne.

In 2023, the lordship of the manor of Old Fishbourne was acquired by Morgan Sheldon by conveyance.