It is scarcely necessary to add that the grounds and park are worthy of the castle; they are especially beautiful, varied in hill and dale—the free river at their base—full of magnificently grown trees, and comprise eleven hundred acres, well stocked with deer.
In the park, which was originally the hunting forest of the old Earls of Arundel, will be noticed Hiorn’s Tower—a triangular, turreted building, of about 50 feet in height, and designed as a prospect tower by the architect whose name it bears. Near to it is Pugh-Dean, where, it is said, Bevis, the Great Castellan of Arundel, and his famous horse, “Hirondelle,” are buried. A mound, covered with a clump of Scotch fir-trees, is pointed out as his burial-place. Near this place, too, is the site of the old chapel and hermitage of St. James.
The old bridge over the river Arun was situated a short distance below the present structure. It is first mentioned in the charter which Queen Adeliza granted to the monks of the Priory de Calceto, in which lands for their support, and an allowance of timber for repairs of the bridge, were granted. It was entirely rebuilt in 1724, principally of stone taken from the ruins of the adjoining hospital. In 1831 it was widened and improved.
Church of the Holy Trinity, Arundel.
The Church of the Holy Trinity. All that remains of this once famous establishment is a square building “enclosing a square yard, partly occupied by cloisters, and partly devoted to other purposes of a monastic establishment.” In it are some splendid monuments to members of the noble families who have owned the place. One of the principal is that of Thomas, Earl of Arundel, and his countess, Beatrix, daughter of John, King of Portugal; and another striking feature is a canopied tomb near the altar.
The Church possesses many highly interesting features, and forms a pleasing object in the landscape, from whichever side it is seen. It is cruciform, and consists of a nave with side aisles, a chancel, and transept; and in the centre rises a low tower, surmounted by a diminutive spire.
The original ecclesiastical foundation was that of the alien priory, or cell, dedicated to St. Nicholas, established by Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Arundel, soon after the Conquest, and subjected to the Benedictine Abbey of Seez, or de Sagio, in Normandy. It consisted only of a prior and three or four monks, who continued to conduct the establishment for nearly three centuries, until the third year of the reign of Richard II., when Richard Fitzalan obtained a licence to extinguish the priory and to found a chantry for the maintenance of a master and twelve secular canons with their officers. Upon this change, it was styled “the Church of the Holy Trinity.” At the suppression, it was endowed with a yearly revenue of £263 14s. 9d.
Being intended as the mausoleum of his family, the founder supplied ample means to enrich it with examples of monumental splendour. The tomb of his son, Thomas Fitzalan, and his wife, Beatrix, daughter of John, King of Portugal, was the earliest of those placed in the church. It is of alabaster, finely sculptured, and was formerly painted and gilt. It contains the effigies of the earl and his lady; at the feet of the earl is a horse, the cognizance of the Fitzalans; and at those of his lady are two lap-dogs. Around, in niches, are small standing figures of ecclesiastics, or pleureurs, with open books, as performing funeral obsequies; and above them as many escutcheons. Other stately tombs are erected to the memory of John Fitzalan and his wife, and Thomas Arundel and his wife, “one of the eyres of Richard Woodevyle, Earl Rivers, sister to Elizabeth, Queen of England, sometime wife to King Edward IV.”
The chapel which contains these monuments is still in a dilapidated state, as was the whole church—“ruinated” during the temporary possession of the Iconoclasts of the Commonwealth—until Henry Charles, Duke of Norfolk, restored it, and put upon it a roof, which it had long been without.