2025-Arundel

On a blissfully perfect June day 35 members of the History Society boarded a Harding's coach and headed for Arundel Castle and town for the Society’s annual Summer Outing.

Having been dropped by the coach at the main castle entrance, some chose to take early refreshment by the river whilst others took in the excellent town museum before entering the castle grounds. Most walked up the hill towards the gardens which had been designed by the King’s garden designers from Highgrove and were at their peak of summer bloom. The rose garden was awash with colour and scent and the imaginative water features opened out onto spectacular views of the cathedral of Our Lady and St Philip Howard beyond the castle wall.

The castle has been the home of the Fitzalan and Howard families since the 14th centuries. But before that, the castle had been built by Roger de Montgomery, a cousin of William the Conqueror, as a reward for his role in governing Normandy in William’s absence. It was built of Caen Limestone on the old 100ft high motte and those that braved the narrow spiral stone steps up to the top of the Keep were rewarded with wonderful views of the surrounding countryside.

In 1643, Parliamentary forces forced the surrender of 800 royalists within the castle after 18 days and 10 years later Parliament ordered the destruction of the castle. This event marked the end of the strategic life of the castle and it remained in poor state until 1787 when the 11th Duke started its restoration followed by the 15th Duke’s restoration from 1875 to 1905. Today it is essentially a grand Victorian folly designed to house various collections by successive Dukes, some of which deserve special mention.

The first duke was a loyal supporter of Richard III and was killed at Bosworth Field in 1485. His son, the second duke, also at Bosworth, spent 3 years in the Tower before swearing allegiance to Henry VII. He then became the Earl of Surrey and at the age of 70 led Henry VIII’s victorious army against the Scots at Flodden in 1513.

The third Duke was the treacherous political manipulator of Wolfe Hall fame, who sacrificed his religious beliefs and two nieces (Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard) for political gain and survival. He avoided the block as Henry VIII died the day before his planned execution.

Philip Howard, the 13th Earl of Arundel, was a committed Catholic who was caught by Elizabeth 1 fleeing the country. He was imprisoned in the Tower, where he died of dysentery only to be elevated to sainthood by Pope Paul VI in 1970. He is buried in the cathedral rather than the Fitzalan chapel where most of the family have been laid to rest.

The various rooms contained a wide variety of treasures from around the globe including three Canalettos, several van Dycks and a fine Milais of Cardinal Newman. The Chapel, which takes much from Lincoln Cathedral, with floor and columns of Purbeck Marble and ceiling of local chalk rock and Painswick Stone, a Jurassic era limestone, from the Cotswolds. These, along with the thousand-year-old Keep, were my highlights but others would have found much of interest and beauty including the floral decorations in the cathedral, in preparation for the Feast of Corpus Christi.

We all met back at the coach at 4pm and were soon back in Oxted after a day well spent.

Roger Cornish