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108 THE SUSSEX COAST
death they passed to her second husband, William of Albini (p. 25), and by him the Norman shell keep tower was erected on Roger's motte. That mound, being only about sixty years old, afforded none too secure foundation, and it was in all probability this fact which caused the circular form to be chosen. It is an immensely solid work of flint and Caen stone, and originally comprised buildings surrounding a well-court, under which is still a small vaulted chamber. It is strengthened by pilaster buttresses and entered by a well-moulded doorway; once it was warmed in part by a hooded fireplace (or rather by what was in it), with tiles laid in herring-bone at the back; stair and parapet are additions. Against it on the south are two fourteenth-century towers that form the present entrance. Superannuated as a fort, it once served as an owlery, whose residents the owls amused their ducal owner by bearing the names of celebrities of their day. At present it is a hollow shell.
Four Albinis followed William, the first Earl of Arundel; then by marriage the estates passed to John Fitzalan (d. 1267), whose ancestor William (d. 1160) was an elder brother of Walter, the founder of Paisley Abbey and ancestor of that royal house who preferred to Fitzalan the surname derived from the office that was conferred on Walter by David I.—Stewart (steward) of Scotland. Thirteen Fitzalans in succession owned and earled Arundel. From a sentence given for one of them in Parliament it appears that "the name, style, and rank of earl is annexed to the castle, honour and demesne of Arundel," as may be seen in the Parliament Rolls, 27 Henry VI. (Camden). By a lucky marriage the Howards, who in the same |
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