Arundel Castle ducal splendour revived: to open this special issue on the collections of the Dukes of Norfolk, John Martin Robinson explores the family's principal seat, Arundel Castle, Sussex, which is both a medieval monument and a magnificent Victorian country house. Under the present duke, it has been painstakingly refurbished and the family's great collection redisplayed in its entirety for the first time

Apollo, June, 2006 by John Martin Robinson

Arundel Castle is two buildings in one, as is recognised by its being both a scheduled ancient monument and a Grade I-listed building. The Norman castle, with significant work dating from the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, survives to its full extent, with a 100-foot-high motte and outer earthworks begun in the 1060s, a stone gatehouse of around 1070, shell keep of around 1140, an almost complete curtain wall round both baileys, and a remarkably well preserved barbican (Fig. 1). (1) All this is overshadowed, however, by the vast gothic house built in the south bailey between 1875 and 1900 by the 15th Duke of Norfolk to the design of Charles Alban Buckler. Described by Mark Girouard as 'enormous, feudal, ducal', (2) this is probably the most significant Victorian gothic-revival house to survive still lived in, completely furnished and magnificently maintained. In recent years the interior has been refurbished and the whole of the family collection put on display for the first time.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

The condition and presentation of the house today are remarkable and could not have been predicted 40 or 50 years ago, when such full-blooded Victorian architecture was out of fashion and much of the interior whitewashed and the furniture removed.

The house was begun in the heyday of Victorian imperial power in the 1870s and also at the height of the Norfolk family fortunes, derived from industrial investment in Sheffield. The 27-year-old Henry, 15th Duke embarked on this vast project (which cost well over half a million pounds--570,377 [pounds sterling].17s.10d--the equivalent of more than 50 million [pounds sterling] today) (3) in anticipation of his marriage in 1878, and in fulfilment of his father's intentions in the 1850s. These had not been carried out because of the 14th Duke's early death from cancer in 1860, when Henry inherited the premier dukedom, estates in seven counties, the hereditary office of Earl Marshal and the lay leadership of the English Catholics, all at the age of 13.

Duke Henry chose as his architect C.A. Buckler, the third generation of an Oxford dynasty- of antiquarian goths, a Catholic convert, herald and the most scholarly architect of his generation.

Duke Henry and Buckler formed a design collaboration that lasted for nearly 30 years and resulted in a staggeringly consistent evocation of the mid-13th century, inspired by English and French sources from the reigns of Henry III and Louis IX (both of them pious aesthete ancestors of the Howards). This archaeological approach was combined with a characteristically Victorian interest in industrial technology Arundel was one of the most progressive houses of its day, with a steam-pumped water supply, a hydraulic lift, fitted bathrooms, 60 water closets, 1000 electric light-bulbs, concrete foundations, a Merryweather fire system and hot air or water-coil central heating.

Many of the greatest Victorian craftsmen were involved in the project, including John Hardman of Birmingham and Dunstan Powell (A.W.N. Pugin's son-in-law) for stained glass and metalwork; Thomas Earp and Boulton of Cheltenham for stone carving; Rattee & Kett of Cambridge for joinery; and Minton of Stoke-on-Trent for heraldic encaustic tiles. (4) The result is a posthumous vindication of Pugin's architectural vision and a romantic demonstration in stone of the long Fitzalan Howard family history and associations on this spot, where they and their ancestors had lived since 1138.

Although Arundel Castle became the principal ducal seat only in the 19th century, in itself a manifestation of the Romantic movement, the Howards had acquired it by marriage to the Fitzalans in the reign of Elizabeth I and used it as an occasional residence in the 17th and 18th centuries, when their principal homes were in London and Nottinghamshire. Just as the building was reconstructed in the last quarter of the 19th century, so the contents were much augmented at the same time. The complete family collection has been concentrated at Arundel only in recent years, following the sale (and demolition) of Norfolk House in London in 1938 and subsequent transfer of its finest contents to the castle, and the more recent return of the entailed chattels from Arundel Park House in 1995. The Victorian rooms and the way they are now arranged represent a late-20th-century, postmodern response to the austere 19th-century architecture, and the variety and range of the contents that form its counterpoint.

Like most of the great English houses, Arundel remained fully lived in and staffed up to 1939. During World War II it became one of the south coast defences, and part was occupied by the army from June 1940 until July 1945, with English, American and Canadian soldiers passing through (one bathroom was reserved for the exclusive use on Saturdays of WAAFs from Ford Airfield). The Barons Hall was used for entertaining the troops with dances, concerts and various shows. The family of the 16th Duke continued to live in the south wing, but many of the contents were stored for the duration, fireplaces were bricked up and the stonework whitewashed, except on the main floor. (5)