Chichester City Walls Walk
The walls were originally just earth embankments, but over time they become reinforced and by medieval times the fine flint walls that you can still see in modern Chichester were in place. Although the walls are not continuous the best stretches are through Priory Park and the Bishops Palace Gardens.
Jubilee Park, just off New Park Road, has a lovely walk underneath an impressive section of the Chichester's former defences.
Unfortunately the traditional gates of the city of Chichester at Northgate, Southgate, Eastgate and Westgate have long since been dismantled.
There is however an interesting gate cut through the city walls between Orchard Street and Chapel Street in north west Chichester which gives a small flavour of how the city gates would have looked in Roman times and the Middle Ages.
Chichester City Walls archaeology
Archaeological digs and geophysical surveys were carried out at the city walls in 2010, at the section next to the Prebendal playing fields (see photo below).These revealed that the city walls used to have more bastions than exist today - there may have been well over 70 in all.
The archaeologists also discovered that there had been a huge ditch, around 7 metres deep, in front of the city's defences - a formidable obstacle indeed.
