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The hilltop town of ARUNDEL , eighteen miles west of Brighton, has
for seven centuries been the seat of the Dukes of Norfolk, whose fine
castle looks over the valley of the River Arun. The medieval town's well-preserved
appearance and picturesque setting draws in the crowds on summer
weekends, but at any other time a visit reveals one of West Sussex's
least spoilt old towns. Arundel also has a unique place in English
cricket: traditionally, the first match of every touring side is played
against the Duke of Norfolk's XI on the ground beneath the castle.
Arundel Castle (April-Oct Mon-Fri & Sun noon-5pm; £7.50, grounds &
chapel only £2.50; ), towering over the High Street, is what first
catches the eye and, despite its medieval appearance, most of what you
see is only a century old. The structure dated from Norman times, but
was ruined during the Civil War, then lavishly reconstructed during the
nineteenth century by the eighth, eleventh and fifteenth dukes. From the
top of the keep, you can see the current duke's spacious residence and
the pristine castle grounds. Inside the castle, the renovated quarters
include the impressive Barons Hall and the library, which boasts
paintings by Gainsborough, Holbein and Van Dyck. On the edge of the
castle grounds, the fourteenth-century Fitzalan Chapel houses tombs of
past dukes of Norfolk including twin effigies of the seventh duke - one
as he looked when he died and, underneath, one of his emaciated corpse.
The Catholic chapel belongs to the Norfolk estate, but is actually
physically joined to the parish church of St Nicholas, whose entrance is
in London Road. It is separated from the altar of the main Anglican
church by an iron grille and a glass screen. Although traditionally
Catholics, the dukes of Norfolk have shrewdly played down their papal
allegiance in sensitive times - such as during the Tudor era when two of
the third duke's nieces, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, became Henry
VIII's wives.
West of the parish church, further along London Road is Arundel's other
major landmark, the towering Gothic bulk of Arundel Cathedral .
Constructed in the 1870s by the fifteenth Duke of Norfolk over the
town's former Catholic church, the cathedral's spire was designed by
John Hansom, inventor of the hansom cab, the earliest taxi. Inside are
the enshrined remains of St Philip Howard, the fourth duke's son,
exhumed from the Fitzalan Chapel after his canonization in 1970.
Following a wayward youth, Howard returned to the Catholic fold at a
time when the Armada's defeat saw anti-Catholic feelings soar. Caught
fleeing overseas and sentenced to death for praying for Spanish victory,
he spent the next decade in the Tower of London, where he died. The
cathedral's impressive outline is more appealing than the interior, but
it fits in well with the townscape of the medieval seaport. The rest of
Arundel is pleasant to wander round, with the antique-shop-lined
Maltravers and Arun streets the most attractive thoroughfares.
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