ChichesterA day in Chichester: cathedral, theatre, galleries and a Roman palace

The Cathedral

Chichester Cathedral was founded in the 11th century. Its tower and spire collapsed in 1861 and were rebuilt within five years. The window to look for is Marc Chagall’s, made in 1978 on the theme of Psalm 150. Apart from the church at Tudeley in Kent, it is the only Chagall glass in Britain.

It is open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm and on Sunday from 12.30pm to 2.30pm. Entry is free, with a suggested donation of £7, and there is nothing to book. Dogs on leads are welcome during visiting hours, though not on spire tours.

Pallant House and the Novium

Pallant House Gallery shows Modern British art from 1900 to now, in a Queen Anne townhouse with a contemporary wing. It is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm and on Sundays and bank holidays from 11am to 5pm. There is an admission charge.

The Novium Museum was built over the remains of a Roman bath house and opened in 2012. It is free. It is open Tuesday to Friday from 10am to 4.30pm and on Saturday until 5pm.

Both are closed on Mondays, and the Novium on Sundays too. Plan the city for a Tuesday to Saturday.

Fishbourne Roman Palace

Fishbourne Roman Palace is the largest known Roman residential palace north of the Alps. It was built around AD 75 and found by accident by workmen in 1960. Many of the mosaics are the original floors where they were laid, including the Cupid on a Dolphin, and they are under cover.

Winter opening is short. It is open daily from 10am to 3pm until 6 December 2026, then closed to the public from 7 December 2026 to 12 February 2027. In summer it has been open from 10am to 5pm, but check before you go.

Adults are £15 and children £7.50, and a Gift Aid ticket gives 12 months of free return visits. Parking is free. Well-behaved dogs on short leads are welcome in the museum, gardens and café.

Theatre, shops and the market

Chichester Festival Theatre was founded in 1962 with Laurence Olivier as its first artistic director, and its company became the basis of the National Theatre. It has Britain’s first modern thrust stage, and the smaller Minerva Theatre beside it opened in 1989. The summer Festival season runs from about April to October, with touring and Christmas shows in winter. The Festival programme is normally announced in February. See what is on at the theatre.

The centre is compact and laid out on a Roman cross of four streets: North, South, East and West. Chichester Farmers’ Market is on the first and third Friday of every month, from 9am to 2pm, in East Street and North Street. From 12 June to 18 July 2027 the Festival of Chichester fills the city and the villages with about 125 events.

From the farm

A day that works: Fishbourne at ten, the Cathedral and lunch in the city, Pallant House in the afternoon and back at the farm by five. Chichester is where we send people when it rains.

For an evening at the theatre, allow half an hour each way and you are back by the wood burner well before midnight. Keepers is the one for a couples’ break built around a play. The Old Stables is all on one level, which suits anyone who finds stairs hard. Outside school holidays we take shorter stays. Goodwood is a few miles from the city.