Photos and patterns of Fishbourne mosaics


Index --- Roman --- large --- triangles --- no mortar --- black & white --- simple --- geometric --- Greek key --- maze --- knot --- Fishbourne --- information --- saving

Here are photos of the splendid black and white mosaics at Fishbourne Roman Palace, near Chichester, Sussex, England. Each photo is followed by my reproduction of the pattern. All these patterns were made online using make a Fishbourne-style Roman mosaic. The proportions are not the same, and sometimes I have altered the pattern slightly as well. I have also given the text to regenerate this mosaic. Copy this, go to make a Fishbourne-style mosaic(black and white) and paste it into the white box at the bottom of the page, and click on the button. This is very slow, so please be patient! It also will only work on the Fishbourne page, not the others.

Click here for more photos of mosaics from Fishbourne, this time concentrating on Celtic knots.


This seems like a simple pattern based on squares. Then you notice the stars between the squares. Then your eye starts to make cubes from the star pattern. Then you realise that the perspective doesn't work... There are all sorts of cubes here, but you can't make sense of them!

Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic photo Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic pattern

Text to regenerate this pattern (see above):



This is a simple pattern. It could be made using any of my mosaic pages, but I've done it with the Fishbourne page. If you look carefully at the bottom picture, you'll see that the pattern changes near the bottom. Either the maker made a mistake, or he found at the last minute that he couldn't fit the pattern in, so altered it slightly. I've made the pattern broader. It could be made into a border by removing the middle.
Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic photo
Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic photo
Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic pattern

Text to regenerate this pattern (see above):



This is the corner of the really complicated black and white pattern. Shapes push in or pop out as your eye tries to sort out the 3-D effect.

Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic photo
Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic pattern

Text to regenerate this pattern (see above):

You can only do part of this pattern using the online mosaic page. However, since it's such a fun pattern, I have tried to reproduce a wider area using a Paint program (see below). I am not entirely sure of the details of the pattern. One problem is the sort-of cubes with a dot in the end. As you can see from the photo, some run from right to left and some from top to bottom. However, some seem to run in opposite directions. Are these mistakes, or are they supposed to vary? Another problem are the triangles round the end which seem to shift which corner of the cross they touch. Now, the whole point of this pattern (I think) is confusing shifts of perspective, and the last thing we want is to easily be able to grasp the pattern. However, I didn't want just to change directions and positions at random. So the triangles' positions are reflected along lines of symmetry going through the centre (all four of them!) But the sort-of cubes with dots keep their directions constant. The crosses have the same shapes, but their centres have rotational symmetry (around lots of centres, as well). That makes different parts of the pattern having rotational, reflective or translated symmetry, which should be enough to do anyone's head in!

Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic photo
Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic pattern



Some simple borders (I haven't bothered to give the regeneration of these):
Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic photo Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic pattern
Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic photo Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic pattern
Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic photo Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic pattern
Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic photo Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic pattern


These interlocking 'L' shapes seem to crop up quite often, but it's hard to see how they fit together. Here is my version.
Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic photo
Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic pattern

Text to regenerate this pattern (see above):



This pattern uses red as well as black and white, so I've had to use my large mosaic page, which shows the mortar as well.
Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic photo
Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic pattern

Text to regenerate this pattern (see above, but use the large mosaic page instead):



I can't quite make this pattern out, but here is a possibility.
Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic photo
Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic pattern


This strip is similar to the complicated pattern, but since it's simpler, it's easier to see what's going on. The Fishbourne make a mosaic page will only let you do part of it, so I've produced a fuller version using a Paint program (see lower down). I've cheated a little on the insides of the crosses and boxes.

Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic photo
Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic pattern

Text to regenerate this pattern (see above, using the Fishbourne mosaic page):

Here is my version of the pattern.

Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic pattern



This is a simpler pattern. I've used the Fishbourne make a mosaic page. The proportions may not be entirely correct.

Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic photo
Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic pattern

Text to regenerate this pattern (see above):



A very simple pattern to finish off, still using the Fishbourne make a mosaic page.

Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic photo
Fishbourne Roman Palace mosaic pattern

Text to regenerate this pattern (see above):