The Council House and Assembly Room

The Council House and Assembly Room. . The council house was erected in 1731 by public subscription at a cost of £1.189. It was designed by Roger Morris (1695-1749), the architectural associate of the 9th Earl of Pembroke, who, with the 3rd Earl of Burlington, was the leader of the Palladian movement which set the standards for nearly all English architecture in the second half of the eighteenth century. The assembly room was added to the east of the council house from the designs of James Watt 1746-1813 in 1783; it is approached from the landing of the council house, through an ante-room,formerly a civic apartment. It is a spacious room of three bays. Lit by three windows on the north and one on the south. There are niches over the original fireplaces., Set in the wall near to this notice is the Neptune and Minerva stone, which was dug up at the corner of North Street and Lion Street in 1723. A conjectural transcription of the text with the missing letters given in square brackets, is as follows:, To Neptune and Minerva , A temple , for the well-being of the divine house , on the authority of Tiberius Claudius , Cogidubnus Great King in Britain. , The guild of smiths and those therein , gave it from their own resources. , ...jens, son of pudentinus, presenting the site., (latin text not transcribed) Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus was a British client king appointed by the Romans to rule over the local tribe, Theatrebates. He was probably a member of the Atrebatic royal house, perhaps a son or nephew of Verica, the previous king. Verica had been forced to flee to Rome and ask for help against his aggressive northern neighbours, the Catuvellauni, thus providing an excuse for the Roman invasion of Britain. Cogidubnus is mentioned by the roman historian Tacitus (Agricola XIV) who states that he remained loyal to the Romans and that additional territories were given to him to rule over. He appears to have adopted an energetic romanising policy and it is thought that the Roman palace at Fishbourne was his official residence., After his death, in accordance with standard roman policy, his territories were split up and Chichester (Noviomagus Reginorum) became the civitas capital of a region which probably included all of Sussex and part of south-east Hampshire., From the well cut letters and correct dedicatory formulae it may be inferred that the inscription adorned a small classical temple. The reference to the divine house suggests that the inscription dates to the reign of Nero (died ad 68) since his immediate successor did not claim to be divine. The guild which erected the temple may have been one of the shipwrights or naval carpenters, given its dual dedication to Minerva, goddess of the arts and the sea-god Neptune.