Amberley Castle
Amberley Castle is in the village of Amberley in the English county of West Sussex .
The castle was built as a mansion in the 12th century and fortified in 1377. It was fortified in a rhombic shape with high castle walls, towers at each corner, a knight's hall and a gate. The Bishops of Chichester used the castle as a fortress. The walls, the gate and two of the towers have been preserved to this day, have been listed by English Heritage as a Grade I Historic Building and are now used as a hotel .
history
The land on which the castle stands belonged to the Bishops of Chichester. The first documented building on this site was a wooden lodge built in 1103 by Bishop Ralph de Luffa . This was demolished in 1140 by Bishop Seffrid I and replaced by a more finely designed, stone hall, to which Bishop Seffried II had an east wing added in 1200. A larger great hall was added by Bishop John Langton between 1305 and 1307 and the property became the summer palace of the Bishops of Chichester.
Bishop William Reade had the great hall torn down and replaced it with a more beautiful one. In 1377 he asked for the property to be fortified, got permission and added the gatehouse with dungeon. Twelve meter high walls were built around the entire property. Bishop Robert Sherborne , who died in 1536, was the last Bishop of Chichester to use the castle himself. It was then given to a number of feudal people.
During the English Civil War , the royalist liege lord Oliver Cromwell ordered his general William Waller to attack the castle. As a result, the walls were razed to a height of six meters and the great hall was destroyed. The castle was sold to a Mr. Butler but restored for the Bishop of Chichester after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. The butlers remained fiefdoms, followed by the briscoes .
In 1872 the castle was sold to Lord Zouche , who used it as a hunting lodge and in 1893 to Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk , resold it. The 15th Duke, known as the "Builder Duke," renovated the castle, modernized Arundel Castle and built Arundel Cathedral . In 1926 the castle came into the hands of the Emmett family , in 1982 that of Hollis Baker , in 1987 that of an American family, and in 1988 that of Joy and Martin Cummings , who converted it into a restaurant . From 2004 to 2011 the castle belonged to Relais & Château .
Today (2014) Andrew and Christina Brownsword own the heavily modified castle and is a hotel of the Brownsword Hotel Group .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Amberley Castle . English Heritage. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
- ^ Images of England: Amberley Castle . English Heritage. Archived from the original on October 22, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
- ↑ a b Amberley Castle . Retrieved February 10, 2015.
- ↑ a b c d The History of Amberley Castle . Retrieved February 10, 2015.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 54 ′ 32.9 ″ N , 0 ° 32 ′ 26.3 ″ E