From a drawing by S. Prout. Day & Son, Lithʳˢ. to The Queen.
ARUNDEL CHURCH, SUSSEX.
ARUNDEL CHURCH,
SUSSEX.
he church at Arundel—of which we give a print of the interior from a drawing by Mr. Prout—is of very ancient date. For a series of years down to our own time, it was suffered to fall into decay; and age was gradually removing all tokens of its former splendour. The roof had disappeared from the chancel; and ivy had overgrown its carved pillars and mullioned windows; the few repairs to which it had been subjected had been carried out in bad taste; and for a long period it remained a discreditable evidence of the apathy of successive Dukes of Norfolk, rather than a monument to record the honours and glories of the race. It is now, however, in progress of restoration; its
claims upon the noble family have been recognised; the inroads of time have been effectually arrested; and it is undergoing such necessary changes (at the cost of the present Duke) as are dictated by judgment and good sense. The church occupies an elevated position north of the town, and nearly opposite the principal entrance into the Castle. Its exterior has many traces of antiquity, and not a few remains of early beauty. Age, and the slovenly hands of stonemasons, have, however, materially injured its venerable character and imposing effect—its principal injury having been sustained by the addition of a wooden spire placed above a low square tower which rises from the centre of the edifice. The church is of large size, and consists of a double arcade, dividing the nave from the aisles, above which are placed, “in what in the architecture of the age was termed the cleoestory, a row of circular windows enclosing quatrefoils—a shape of rare occurrence.” The south transept was, we are told, formerly occupied by the parochial altar; it now contains the communion-table and the font; the latter being octagonal upon an octagonal shaft, with a corresponding pedestal. It is composed of Sussex marble, and is of very early date. In the north transept was “the chantry of St. Christopher, commonly called Salmon’s”—to which was attached a priest whose endowment was the appropriation of the Church of Rudgwick, “with two acres of land, one in Rudgwick for his use, the other in Arundel for the site of his residence.” The foundation of this chantry was created by the benefaction of Edward Mille, Esq. “The first incumbent, William Baynton, took possession of the benefice on the 9th May, 1440.”[48]
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
