Albourne to Ashurst

Albourne, Mid Sussex (541). TQ2616. 8m NNE of Brighton

In the Vale of Sussex. The church, mostly rebuilt, has a Norman chancel-arch etc. Albourne Place is mid C17 Mannerist. In the village, Albourne Green (½m ENE), is the picturesque timber-framed Gallops. Birthplace of James Starley, inventor (1831).

Alciston, Wealden (91). TQ5005. 6m WSW of Hailsham

Below the South Downs (Bostal Hill 624'). C13 church with small Norman window. Medieval barn and ruined dovecote at neighbouring Court House Fm.

Aldingbourne, Arun (2763). SU9205. 4m E of Chichester

On the coastal plain. C12-13 church including a Trans. vaulted chapel in the S aisle; remains of wall-painting. Castle Mound (S) is the site of a medieval bishops' palace destroyed in the Civil War. Parish includes Norton, Nyton, Westergate, and Woodgate. Fontwell, see Eastergate.

Alfriston, Wealden (811). TQ5203. 3m NE of Seaford

Picturesque village on the right bank of the River Cuckmere in its gap through the South Downs. Fine large flint-built cruciform C14 church (c.1360) with shingled spire, 'Cathedral of the Downs'. St Lewinna buried here in C7. C14 timber-framed Clergy House, first building acquired by the National Trust (1896). Shaft of market cross, fine timber-framed Star Inn (1520) with interesting carvings, C15 George Inn opposite, and other old houses. Good Neolithic long barrow (1m WNW). Drusillas Zoo Park (1m N).

Amberley, Horsham (526). TQ0313. 4m N of Arundel

Charming village at the foot of the Downs, at the N end of the Arun Gap. The church is Norman (see chancel-arch), E.E., etc. with an interesting brass (1428). Various old cottages.

Castle: a mainly C13 manor house of the bishops of Chichester (preserves a Norman doorway), fortified by Bishop Rede in 1377 with an impressive rectangular curtain-wall, angle-towers, gatehouse, and a considerable enlargement of the old house. Part of the house is now ruined after being sacked in the Civil War, part (service doorways, chapel), including Bishop Sherbourne's additions (C16 including painted panels), incorporated in the present house, reoccupied in the late C17 (interiors).

To the N are the wide meadows of Amberley Wild Brooks. Amberley Chalk Pits Museum (at Houghton Bridge) in C18/19 limeworks. See also North Stoke.

Angmering, Arun (5381). TQ0604. 3m ENE of Littlehampton

Large village on the coastal plain; glasshouses. The church (restored) includes a Trans. chancel-arch and a good tower added by Syon Abbey in 1507. Pigeon House is a medieval yeoman's house. Ecclesden Manor (½m E) dates from 1634. Roman villa found 1m W. Angmering-on-Sea, see East Preston.

Parish extends N on to the South Downs: Harrow Hill (3½m N, 549') has Neolithic flint mines and a small Iron Age hillfort. At Bargham are the interesting foundations of an early Saxon church.

Appledram, Chichester (172). SU8403. 2m SW of Chichester

Or Apuldram. C13 church with a good chancel; C14 screen. Rymans is an interesting small unfortified C15 manor house with a central tower. Dell Quay (½m SW), delightful group of C17 cottages and a boatyard on Chichester Channel, an arm of Chichester Harbour; for long the port of Chichester.

Ardingly, Mid Sussex (1585). TQ3429. 4m NNE of Haywards Heath

In the High Weald above the infant Ouse. The church, over ½m NW, is Dec and Perp; good Wakehurst and Culpeper brasses. Of Wakehurst Place (1½m NNW), a fine Elizabethan courtyard-mansion built by Sir Edward Culpeper (1590), only the N range survives; gardens (NT), now a branch of Kew. Ardingly College was founded by Canon Woodard in 1858 (architects Slater & Carpenter; cf. Hurstpierpoint, Lancing). Showground of the South of England Agricultural Society (1m N). Reservoir (1m W).

Arlington, Wealden (682). TQ5407. 3m WSW of Hailsham

By the River Cuckmere. Church [Norm to Dec] has Saxon quoins and blocked window with Roman tiles.

Michelham Priory (1½m NE), Augustinian (1229), in large moat fed by Cuckmere, with bridge to broad three-storey C14 Gatehouse; remains of C13/15 S (refectory) and W (prior's lodging) ranges included in Tudor farmhouse; plan of church indicated in turf. Various exhibits; barn, C18 dovecote, watermill.

ARUNDEL, Arun (2240 MB). TQ0107. 10m E of Chichester

Small historic market town situated feudally below the great castle on the r. bank of the River Arun, at the S end of the Arun Gap through the South Downs. Already a borough and a thriving port in the C11, the town later had a flourishing timber trade, but the port has long since disappeared. TIC (High St).

Castle. First built, as a motte with two baileys, by Roger de Montgomery, a follower of William I, in the late C11 to command the Arun Gap and the rape of Arundel. Surrendered to the Crown 1102; besieged by Stephen 1139 as Matilda staying here. Added to by Henry II in the late C12 (including keep) and by Edward I in the late C13; then passed to the powerful Fitzalans and, in 1580, to the Howards, Dukes of Norfolk, who still live here. Ruined by Waller after a siege in the Civil War (1643-4). Much rebuilt in the C18/19, particularly by the 15th Duke (1890-1903, architect C A Buckler), hence the predominantly C19 neo-medieval appearance today. Old features include the original C11 Inner Gateway, approached by the late C13 Barbican; the C12 Shell Keep, on the original motte, and the Bevis Tower, named after a famous giant; and the C13 Well Tower. Also remains of the original curtain-walls. Interiors mostly late C19, though the undercroft of the C12 hall survives; furniture, portraits, etc. Fitzalan Chap, see below. Very extensive Park (1200 acres), with Swanbourne Lake, and Hiorn's Tower, a triangular Gothick tower built by the architect Francis Hiorn (1790).

St Nicholas' Ch. A Perp. collegiate church, the college being founded by the executors of Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, in 1380 (the canons replaced alien Benedictine monks). The chancel and N (Fitzalan) chapel, screened off as a private chapel by the Catholic Dukes of Norfolk, originally by an iron grille and later (until recently) by a solid wall, are only accessible from the castle grounds. Note (in the public part) the quatrefoil clerestory windows, an ornate canopied Perp pulpit, and wall-paintings. In the Fitzalan Chapel are a remarkable series of Fitzalan and Howard monuments, including several to C15-16 Earls of Arundel, e.g. the elaborate chantry of the 9th Earl (1487); also seven brasses and a Spanish C15 crucifix. St Wilfred's Priory (SE of the church), a C19 reconstruction of the collegiate buildings, includes original walls, windows, etc.

RC Cathedral (St Philip Neri), 1870-3 by J A Hansom for the 15th Duke of Norfolk, French Gothic with prominent flèche; Hardman glass; became cathedral in 1965.

Town. See the High St, with C18 houses e.g. 'Norfolk Arms', and Maltravers St, with raised pavements. In High St are the Arundel Museum and Heritage Centre, and the Toy and Military Museum. The roofless shell of the Maison Dieu, a hospital founded by Richard Fitzalan (see above) in 1395, survives in a public garden by the bridge. Wildfowl Trust (Mill Rd). Pynham or Calceto Priory, see Lyminster.

Ashburnham, Rother (318). TQ6914. 4m W of Battle

Wealden parish centred on Ashburnham Park, laid out with lakes by Capability Brown. Of Ashburnham Place, built c.1665, only a fragment survives; preserves relics of Charles I. The church, behind the house and approached through the courtyard of the C18 stables, has a Perp. tower with Pelham Buckles on doorway, the rest being rare 1665 Gothic with original furnishings, and, in the N chapel, monuments to John Ashburnham, builder of the church (d. 1671), and to William (d. 1675) and wife, an outstanding early Baroque work by Bushnell (cf. Withyham). No village, main hamlet Ponts Green. Parish was a centre of the Wealden iron industry, with last of furnaces to close (1828).

Ashington, Horsham (1728). TQ1316. 5m ESE of Pulborough

In the Sussex Vale. Perp. church (restored) with C13 bell. Holly Gate Cactus Nursery and Garden (Billingshurst La). See also Warminghurst.

Ashurst, Horsham (263). TQ1816. 3m N of Steyning

W of the River Adur. Attractive C12-13 church (to the NW) with a single nave/aisle roof (cf. Findon), and rare vamping-horn. Burial place of Margaret Dawson, alias Michael Fairless, the 'Roadmender' (d. 1901).