Above: Principal features of The Drawing Room include the large heraldic chimney- piece in carved Painswick stone by Thomas Earp, the carved oak ceiling and 18th-century furniture. Below right: The turrets and towers of Arundel Castle in West Sussex
60 BRITAIN
rundel Castle is unusual among British castles. The castle that dominates the West Sussex town was originally built in 1067 but most of what we see today is the result of extensive restoration in the early 19th century. The
building today owes much of its grandeur to Henry, the 15th Duke of Norfolk, who worked hard to restore his inheritance well into the 20th century. This was one of the first English country houses to be fitted with electric light, fire-fighting equipment, service lifts and central heating. In that sense, it is a ‘modern’ castle and is therefore entirely intact as the centrepiece of the estate. When Duke Bernard (the 16th Duke) died in 1975 he
had no son to whom he could leave his estate, having only daughters. The properties went to his cousin Duke Miles Fitzalan-Howard who in turn passed the castle and the farms to his son Edward, the present Duke of Norfolk. And it is Edward Arundel who has improved and modernised the business that is at the heart of the hilltop town today. The Duke and Duchess are very much people of the times in which they live, making commercial sense of their home and opening it up to the community.
Viewed from afar, in the valley of the River Arun, this is
a fairytale castle. It’s slightly unreal, like a castle built for a film set. This is significant, because the Duke and Duchess have invested time and money in broadening the castle’s appeal as a film and television location. This is a ‘storybook’ castle with towers and turrets, nooks and
DAVE PORTER
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