This was a surprise trip that Jordan came up with the day before. It was originally just going to be me and him, but as a quick last minute thing we decided to go pick up Tom on the way through. It was the best choice and we all had a fun day that was well and truly needed by all of us.
I managed to guess where we were going on the drive over. It took us a while to park as the place we packed, but when we got into the castle there weren't actually that many people around. I haven't been to Arundel for quite a while and it was definitely time that I went back. We all debated if we wanted to do the castle or the grounds and gardens first, we all picked the castle and am glad that we did as I forgot how big the castle was and how many stairs there where.
We entered the castle and walked up to the stairs to a long corridor, this led to the rest of the castle as well as the shop and cafe. We walked through to the Stone Hall, this leads to the Keep on one side and the rest of the castle on the other. The Keep is part of the older part of the castle and can see why and where it is joined. We walked down a long corridor that made for a great picture, with the stone walls and slightly curved roof. We came to The Gatehouse Tower, this contained the portcullis which is an accurate Victorian recreation. It was at this point that Tom and Jordan found some shields to pick up and play with. We walked through a few other rooms, sadly I can't remember as there is no map and the guidebook doesn't list all the rooms. We went to the Officers Room, this was set up as it was believed to have looked if an officer would have inhabited it. Once we went through these small rooms we walked the wall that led to the round tower that was the Keep. The first thing we saw was the Well, this fed water to those in the Keep. This up to the higher levels of the Keep, we walked round the portcullis and The Guard Room before we went up higher into St Martin's Chapel. Luckily the steps stopped and we came out and were able to walk round the walls of the Keep. I'm not one of heights but the views were amazing, you could see the rest of the castle as well as the local town let alone what was in the distance. We walked all the way round and then found the stairs back down, this led us to the Penthouses which would have housed a family. We followed the stairs all the way back down and then walked the wall back to the main castle.
Once we walked back through to the Stone Hall and went to the other side which takes you to the main part of the castle. The first room we came to was The Armoury, both Tom and Jordan were like kids in a candy store and stood staring at the walls. The room was full of swords, guns, crossbows and armour that had been collected over hundreds of years. The room weirdly led to The Chapel, I'm not a religious person but the architecture and stained glass windows were amazing. The chapel is still in use today by the current Duke of Norfolk's family. We left the chapel and went into The Baron's Hall, this was breathtaking as a sucker for wooden beams this had it all. There were paintings on all the walls of the past Duke's of Howard with their family crests above them. All along the rest of the room there was furniture that was owned by them. At the other end of the hall I saw 3 paintings that I recognised and had the distinctive look as being painted by Tudor court painter Hans Holbein. This was called The Picture Gallery and like the name suggests it was full of paintings, busts of past and present members of the Arundel/Howard family as well as their furniture. This also made for some brilliant photos due to the length of the corridor and the shape of the ceiling.
Off The Picture Gallery was The Dining Room, this room was beautiful, the high vaulted ceiling, light stone walls and 6 near floor to ceiling windows allowed so much light flooded the room. As the name suggests the room was set up for a 12 people dinner. In this room was also a chair that had been made for Queen Victoria for her coronation in 1838. A lot of the items in the room had been made for either the coronation of George IV or Victoria. This room led on to The Small Drawing Room, this room was nice a cosy, even though it was part of the older castle it had a modern feel to it. You can picture coming in here after a big meal in the previous room to chill out and digest. There was a small painting on the wall that caught my eye, it was that of Elizabeth of York, yet there is no real connection between her and the castle. This room then led on to The Drawing Room, all along the ceiling was coats of arms as well as more painting of past family members. As far as I can tell this room and the previous room are still used by the family when they use the castle. We entered back further down the Picture Gallery and came to The Grand Staircase, this was another beautiful room, the ceilings were high, big vaulted windows and pale stone walls, it was giving of church vibes and not that of a castle. The stairs led up to The Upper Gallery, like the other galleries in the house it also had paintings but this time of more religious things. Along this gallery were the guest bedrooms, many of these rooms were still used on the odd occasion when the family used the castle.
We carried on walking round and looking at the bedrooms, can tell that people weren't meant to be tall and why have a desk in the same room as the bath tub. We came back down the Grand Staircase and followed it round to what was known as The Victoria Room, This was in the newer part of the castle and was furbished for Queen Victoria's visit in 1846. In the next room there were a few other items that had been commissioned just for her and Albert's visit. What followed was a room that both myself and Tom wanted to be locked in, The Ante Library, this was a small room that led into the main library itself, this also made for a good photo as both rooms lined up perfectly. As soon as we entered the room we were greeted by a lovely person that worked at the castle, they asked if we were local and when we said we lived near Portsmouth they mentioned that we had the Mary Rose me and Tom both said we work there. They shook our hands and asked us what it was like compared to the castle. In the middle of the room there was a little table that contained miniature portraits, some of them I recognised as Mary Tudor, sister to Henry VIII, and Frances Brandon, mother to Lady Jane Grey. We walked into The Library and our mouths hit the floor, there were about 10,000 books in this room, there were about 20 sections on each side of the room and there were two floors. There was also the execution warrant for the 4th Duke of Norfolk that was signed by Elizabeth I. The room gave off middle eastern vibes, but was still rather relaxing. Would of happily been locked in with a cup of tea.
We came out of the library into what looked like Victorian servants quarters, the walls were a nice blueish green and there were the odd arrow slit sized windows. Along the corridor was a bomb from World War II as well as drawings and maps of the grounds and local area. This corridor led to The South Passage, this was full of stuffed animals as well as the odd weapon on the walls. We then came to The Front Hall, this was made from pale stone which made it look fantastic and full of light. In the middle of the hall was a statue of Lady Adeliza Fitzalan Howard, this just added a little something extra to the hall. Once we had been through here we were then led back to the main corridor that we started, with the shop and cafe on.
We made our way to the exit and had a walk around the gardens for a bit, we found the Chapel and went inside to have a look around. Once we had been round the chapel, we carried on walking around the massive gardens. We found somewhere to sit for a few moments and think, before we carried on and started making our way to the exit so we could find a local pub for a drink and food.
The History
The building work on Arundel started around 1067, the land had been rewarded to Rodger de Montgomery, the newly appointed first Earl of Arundel after his loyalty to his cousin William the Conqueror while he was still in Normandy. The castle passed into the hands of Adeliza of Louvain and her new second husband William d'Aubigny. The Empress Matilda would stay in the castle in 1139. The castle stayed in the d'Aubigny family line till the death of Hugh d'Aubigny, 5th Earl of Arundel in 1243. John Fitzalan inherited the castle along with the honour of Arundel and was then later made Earl of Arundel on the orders of Henry VI. When Henry Fizalan, 12th Earl of Arundel died the male line of the family ended and the castle went to Mary Fitzalan and her husband Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk in 1555. The castle, land, and titles passed over to the Howard family.
During the First English Civil War in 1643 the castle was besieged, over 800 royalists inside the castle surrendered after about 18 days. Ten years later Parliament ordered that the castle be purposely damaged to reduce it's value. Much of the castle had been destroyed by the weather. The castle stayed in the hands of the Howard family for the next few centuries, but it wasn't their favourite residence so much so that the family spent their time, money and energy in improving their other residences. Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk was known for his restoration and improvements on Arundel Castle and he began the work in 1787. Part of the building work that he commissioned is still in place to this day.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited and stayed in the castle in 1846 for three days. Henry Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk had the interior of the castle remodelled just in time for her visit, this included a suite of six rooms that was built on the second floor of the south-east range. Part of what he remodelled and the items that Victoria used can still be seen to this day. Once the Royal visit had taken place the 15th Duke began re-structuring the castle between 1875 to 1905 and was finished in the late 19th century. The 16th Duke was going to hand the castle over to the National Trust, but upon his death in 1975, he changed his mind and instead created an independent charitable trust that would guarantee the future of the castle and oversee the restoration work that needed to be carried out.
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