Processional Routes, Orthopraxy and a Political Sacred Island: Exploring the Iron Age and Roman Religious Landscape of Hayling Island and the Chichester region

The role of processions and pilgrimage in the pre-Roman to Roman transition in southern Britain is considered in this paper. The example chosen for detailed examination is the temple on Hayling Island and its relationship with the nearby oppidum and Roman town at Chichester. A potential route is discussed, that takes in Fishbourne ‘palace’, Ratham Mill temple, Havant springs and settlement, and the Wadeway across to Hayling Island. Activities for cultores at the temple are also considered, together with the sequence of development of the temple structures. The key role of the temple in the wider political and historical and ritual context of the conquest period is highlighted in the final discussion