Was Arundel Castle the Most Formidable Fortress in England?
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- Опубликовано: 17 апр 2019
- Right at the nucleus of Arundel Castle is its stone keep, situated at the fortification's highest point. This was where the defenders would come and make their final stand if the castle was ever besieged.
It was built on top of the Norman motte following William the Conqueror's conquest of southern England in 1066 and was originally constructed of timber. Yet in c.1140 the wooden keep was demolished and replaced with a stronger, stone one.
Recently Dan visited the formidable bastion to understand why this fortress was considered almost-impregnable.
#ArundelCastle #DanSnow #HistoryHit
My local castle. As a kid you take it for granted, but everytime I pass through Arundel now, I'm amazed how epic it looks, alonside the giant cathedral and ancient town centre
So true. It so cool when i remember there's a castle about 15 minutes away. My favorite view of it as actually from the train as you pass, get a really good panoramic view.
I'm the same with Farnham castle. Didn't take any notice as a kid, but now every time I walk past I'm amazed at the history.
Yes, you took it for granite didn't you?
@@UmVtCg Ohhhh! LOL!
As a Canadian I can’t believe you take a castle like that for granted lol
I want to go to Europe SO badly... As an American the thousands of years of history is mind blowing. There's a saying that Americans think 100 years is a long time and Europeans think 100 miles is a long distance.
Well I’m English and 100 miles is a damn long way, but 100 years is practically yesterday. I’ve known a lot of people who had memories of 100 years ago. But I don’t know 10% of places within 100 miles, even a 50 mile radius.
For most Americans history stops with the end of the bible and starts again in 1776. Europe just fills in the blanks for you 👍👍
You're welcome here in the North east of England bro! Thats if the hysterically inept lying shit johnson and his party of heathens will actually welcome ??? P.s. if you've a spare million or 2 as a gift 2 the tory party you'll walk straight in ? Good luck and God bless***
Don't fret! "EUROPEAN" history (IN AMERICA) only starts with the colonisation of America, by the European colonists (I would argue America was named after Richard AMERIKE, or "ap Meryk" - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Amerike - a wealthy Anglo-Welsh merchant who funded one of the first journeys of discovery to America. NOT Amerigo Vespucci, as places were not generally named after personal names, but surnames). But don't forget that your nation has a rich pre-European history, which is an integral and immutable part of your nation. If you love history, I'd start right there, where you are, if I were you.
Hundred miles without consideration of direction can easily land you in the drink in England.
I'm giving my imagination a great workout trying to picture the coastal views Dan keeps talking about while the cameraman refuses to look...
It is quite a bit inland. It is built on the southern slope of the south downs, at a point where this ridge of low rolling hills gets closest to the coast, but it is still about 10-15 miles from the sea. You can sea it, but I would say "coastal views" is more about views of land near the coast, rather than views of the sea by the coast.
South of it is what used to be the small but marshy Arun river and Arundel was the first bridge up from the coast. It therefore blocked anyone marching a force along the coast. Chichester is nearby, and this area was heavily settled, and prosperous, even before the Romans arrived. There is history everywhere. You can pick up Stone Age flint tools everywhere (although it isn't technically flint).
@@TheToledoTrumpton The local history is amazing, although the castle is much shorter to the sea than that. I grew up in Littlehampton and can assure you that the castle is probably about 5 miles form the sea, 7.5 at a stretch. There is also some brilliant local history in worthing that is worth checking out too!
@@skaptikl I grew up in Middleton on sea.
So it is nearly 7 miles drive from Littlehampton, but 10 miles from Middleton, which I had in my mind as directly south, which of course is wrong; it is a bit of a diagonal. My dad did the drive for a while commuting into London, so I know the drive was about 10 miles.
So you are right, my mistake. But I still wouldn't describe the view from the castle as coastal.
@@TheToledoTrumpton yeah I agree lol, I suppose in medieval times there would have been scouts all over the place with torches and horseback, they wouldn’t be staring at the channel from a distance away.
I am german, and come from a region with many castle ruins, northern end of Swabian Alb plateau. Most castles had been very small, for being build by knights . There are few castles of compareable size. This had been castles of impotant high noblemen, transformed into fortresses after mid 15th century.
Of course. During this time the English were prolific. When most people think medieval they think English. For better or worse...
@@Bill_Stranix In North America or Anglosphere maybe
The interesting thing about Arundel Castle is that it is even now owned and occupied by a family descended from the Normans. It's the "seat" of the Duke of Norfolk (Herzog von Norfolk), who is the premier Duke of the United Kingdom.
@@SussexYank : Also here in Germany you sometimes find villages, where village, castle and castle owner have the same name.
Wow that is absolutely beautiful country. Wow. Just beautiful
Got the opportunity to visit Arundel in 2019 and it was awesome. Not shown here is the more modern wing of the castle which has such a rich and interesting history laid on layer by layer. Also beautiful grounds to walk through.
The little town is great as well, very cool shops and food.
I have always envisaged/imagined Arundel Castle as Gormenghast. Imagine my surprise when some years ago I found out that Mervyn Peak had rented a cottage overlooking the castle prior to WW2.
Absolutely beautiful castle.
So well preserved and maintained. Amazing glance into that time in history
Local mason: "How strong do you want your castle?"
Norman Lord: "Yes!"
Love that this came through my feed. In mid-90s I lived in Chepstow, Wales for four months - I became enchanted with the castles in the area. But this one is truly amazing.
Chepstow has a superb castle, once the home of William Marshall.
WOW ! That is awesome castle. Thanks for sharing 👍
Thanks for this video! Arundel Castle is not far from where I'm living now, but circumstances have prevented my being able to visit this castle, at least the interior of it, to this point. It is nice to see a little of what it looks like on the inside. My plan is to make a bit of a documentary about it sometime this year.
Visited here today, 19.08.21. Incredible castle and gardens
A beautiful castle and well worth a visit along with a walk around the village. Some quite nice driving roads around there too.
I went to arundel town pretty much every year as a wee kid right up to mid teens (a friend of my nan owned a cottage in the town, went to this castle loads always enjoyed it
Man, I wish 20th Century Battlefields had been more than one season. Dan and Peter are awesome.
The stories these castles could tell,I have been to a few and they are all amazing even the smell is amazing.
Boiling water falling from a height loses its heat very rapidly - it won't be boiling when it hits its targets below. More effective, easily available and cheap is red hot sand. They weren't trying to be nice.
These castles are amazing 😀😇
The studio who made Kingdom Come: Deliverance need to recreate this castle and the landscape as it was. Would be so cool to explore and get a feel for what it would have been like.
You can get a feel for what it would have been like by going to Arundel Castle any day you like. 😂
The Kingdom Come: Deliverance team was from Eastern Europe and they were tired of all the focus of Western history being on England and Western Europe, so they wanted to showcase a European culture and history that is unknown largely outside of Eastern Europe. I'd be surprised if they'd want to move the story to Western Europe given how much time is spent on that and how much more they could tell about their own culture.
@@celebrim1 I don't think the Czechs regard themselves as "eastern European" ... I believe they consider themselves to be Central Europeans, alongside Germans.
@@zel3888 Perhaps. But whatever they consider themselves, they are right in thinking their history gets ignored compared to England, France, Germany, etc.
Norman Yoke .... still with us!
I nearly fell off my chair when Dan Snow popped up at the beginning of a history documentary and wasn't telling me download some app or whatever it is he's developed...
I think the videos would really benefit from more aerial drone shots.
Love them at any rate.
The problem is a lot of the castle is private residence and out of view from the public or media
Maybe I'm a wee bit biased but durham Castle is of was the most strategically placed castle in the land !also a castle that was kept pretty busy 100's of years ago ? A canny bit o agro wi the northerly neighbours back then ? Just worth a mention like 👍 its built on a peninsula and as it stands now was impregnable but beautifully set!!!
Durham has the most spectacular location for sure, and growing up in the city it's Riverside walks make it amazing. But if I was to survive a siege, I would pick Carlisle castle - not as pretty, but bloody powerful
This is very cool as an Arrindell myself to see were my ancestors lived
Give Dover Castle a visit. It's more of a citadel really. An absolute monster of a thing.
Probably the nearest to a fairytale castle that i have visited, would thoroughly recommend it 🏰😉
Love it.
Great video. I would have appreciated some panoramic views from at the top of the castle instead of close up's of the narrator
To this day, I fail to understand how William the Bastard/The Conquerer was able to take all of England with so few men.
It's just incredible how these were built at the time wuth no machinery....incredible skill , courage, strength and determination to build and succeed back then
They had machinery. Cranes and such, it would be pretty miserable to stack those stones on the wall by climbing the wall while carrying them. Impossible even.
Those castles would never be built today. Planning permission. Environment impact study. Someone would find a coloured snail
@@themadfarmer5207 We build shopping centers that cover at least as much ground as most castles.
I think it was on Time Team that they compared norman castles to todays large aircraft carriers, because they were all about power projection into the surrounding countryside. The base for the mounted knights, just like a carrier bases its aircraft and sends them out to dominate. Of course a castle doesnt move about :)
I don't think I've ever seen any castle keeps quite like that one, it's larger than most and seems to be designed to totally open plan inside. I couldn't see any signs of holes in the wall where wooden floor beams might have been run through at all. Makes me want to do some more reading up on this one.
I live here, and used to work for the Duke of Norfolk many years ago.
Spain has plenty to see..some great adventures to be had. Intact Segovia is stunning but ruins are everywhere.
wow this is awesome! imagine being on the attackers side and the defenders are just throwing old human waste at you aswell as arrows 😱 a stinky pincushion for sure!
The castle was an absolute bugger to take. The spiral staircase in the keep is also designed so the attacker could only ascend leading left handed.
Easily my favourite castle and the main reason we choose Arundel in reenactment:)
How did they manage to do that. Incredible
@@jplonsdale7242 I guess they just built it that way. Basically, if you are coming up the stairs, your sword arm is pretty much hampered by the winding stairs. While the defenders sword is free to stab downward.
They'd be in a long conga line just getting picked off.
@@13thcentury thanks for the explanation I really appreciate it. Amazing information
@@jplonsdale7242 Castles are fascinating. A good insight to the evolution of warfare 👍
we need to start building castles again
You mentioned that it was besieged 3 times. Was it taken ?
Method of control sounds familiar🤔🇬🇧👍
Yo I live here what a coincidence that it's on my home page
The Normans did the same in Ireland. The built some amazing castles
0:27 anyone else see the catapults? They're just at the tree line, top right of screen, way back in the distance. This video was shot in 1102.
Castle of my ancestors: Mary Fitzalan wife of Thomas Howard and daughter of Henry Fitzalan 19th Earl of Arundel and Elizabeth Grey. Decendant of Joan Beaufort daughter of John of Gaunt and mother of Richard Neville "The King Maker".
I always find Dover castle more formidable!
you can understand Dover for country defence. but arundel seems a country house in its location.
No. Pontefract Castle was. But that's up in the north of England, and this channel doesn't feature much of that.
My favourite is Chepstow castle right on a cliff face
Can you imagine that when it was actually inhabited and there were no safety rails?
A great Fortress indeed
caerphilly castle is a far stronger castle .. i wish they would show this . its such an amazing castle and very unique
That’s in Wales though. Title is Strongest in England.
@@richardmoon3745 good point :) but i still think Caerphilly is a much more amazing castle or maybe caernarfon castle warwick castle
I've been to caerphilly and apart from the moat/lake around it, it has nothing on Arundel. Arundel is bigger, better condition, more to see and experience inside and in the grounds. It like a mini Warwick or Windsor
@@dannygatland1353 so the reason its unique is it does not have any keep .. it has a bunch of gatehouses that are its own keeps so it has multiple keeps
it also has an outer wall with a moat and an inner wall with another moat . thats why its so unique
How did the people of the time make something like this ? Fantastic.
Lots of time, effort, money, and expertise.
There's a great book called Pillars of the Earth, which is a historical epic novel set around a family of medieval English architects a hundred or so years after the Norman conquest. They build cathedrals rather than castles, but there are some great insights into the methods of the time
I love visiting old castles. To think that humans built these hundreds of years ago without modern machinery is amazing and the fact that many are still standing today is testament to how well they were built.
Modern property developers would go mad if they had to build up to such standards....
@@meeeka building something like that now would cost billions and probably drag on for almost as many years as it took to build these castles!
"This is what you build when your neighbours absolutely hate you"
Interesting, but a view of the sea should have been shown, to complete the detail!
You can barely make it out from there. It's about 5 miles away and trees blocking the view
shell keep, please explain
So what is the answer to the question in the title?
I wonder if Frozens Arendelle Castle is inspired in this one.
There is a Steele fence around the edge now, but what was there back then to keep people from falling to their deaths?
I imagine some sort of wooden fencing
@@krisjb13 Or, you just walked out of the crapper and fell to your death. 😆
My local castle ❤️
Not a single shot of the sea.
Heavily restored by the look of it. perhaps when the new 'Disney' castle was built? We pass it by very often, living just a few miles away. Some nice walks in the area.
this place is cool
How did the Normans build all those castles if the natives hated them? They must have had a lot of help
Our ancestors were far more pragmatic than we are today. They wanted to survive. They may not like the Normans, but they want to eat.
@@04nbod you missed the point entirely. The Norman's wouldn't just have say 6months to 2 years of peace to build the ultimate strong hold.
Think about it, everytime they get a wall up you'd want to destroy it and push them back. Aka one step forward 2 steps back.
Well, probably cause history isn't black and white as you think .
There already were Normans living in England before the conquest, and Harold godwinson even stayed in Normandy for few years .
Most likely the native peasants didn't really care who was rulling the country as long as they stayed happy.some supported Normans,some did not.
Not to mention,just after a generation both saxons and Normans had intermixed to a very large extent.
How long would it take to build such a castle?...
They were often added to over the years as new defense ideas were introduced. If you watch The Madness of King George you will see Arundel standing in for Windsor Castle. One of the reasons is that King George IV rebuilt Windsor to make it meet the early 19th century idea of a medieval castle. Before the rebuilding Windsor was very much like Arundel.
About 800 years
And no one else on the grounds during the filming. Somebody had hooks.
Come to Carlisle castle. The most besieged in Britain
They would have used boiling oil, not water. Firstly, it didn't do the job just as well. Second cost wasn't an issue when you're fighting for your life. Oil has a boiling point 3 times higher than water, and is more viscous and sticks to skin and clothes better.
I mean now there was a break in sooooo
The rotunda was a trap, the enemy was allowed to come inside and then closed in to be massacred.
I'm pretty sure none of that actually existed at the time of the normans - except for the actual earth mound. The parts which aren't a Victorian remodelling are actually quite understated, relative to other castles.
"just as good"? Almost any oil has a boiling point double that of water. If would hurt more, do much more damage, and stick to you. But, yes, it's a very expensive weapon compared to boiling water.
Haven't been through the comments (and never will) but I wonder, am I the only one who noticed him remark at least twice about the view of of the sea PLUS multiple uses of the word "see" all in one sentence but not one shot of said sea ! What the fu . . ?
Fortress I was curious to see what it looked like reading family ancestry Joan Beaufort comes up under as a passed grandmother and her grandmother Lady Alice FitzAlan was born at Arundel Castle in 1350 second daughter to Eleanor of Lancaster
Love this place - I grew up in Slindon (about 4 miles away) and I enjoyed visiting many of the English castles. Now I live in Colorado, USA and the closest "castle" is Castle Rock - ruclips.net/video/mqaaE1H5Gv4/видео.html
When I was a kid I used to think castles and knights were cool. Our teacher told us that when threatened, all the townsfolk would run into the castle yard for refuge. Now I realize that the knights were thugs, and the lords needed the castles to protect themselves from the townsfolk. Not so cool :(
Except for when the town was threatened and the people would run into the castle for protection
Now the historians at BBC are getting it!
My favourite castles will always be the modest ones but, sadly, their modesty is a big reason why most of them are near unidentifiable ruins now.
Throw boiling water down ? Surely water is more valuable than oil in a siege situation.
Sorry It used to be ,saddly a tealeaf broke in and helped himself to a lot of valuables plus the keep has gone is anyone nearby building an extension 😀 👍
2:02 to find out where they did "the wees and poohs", great stuff, I heard the poured boiling urine on invaders at Pembroke castle so that looks a bit of a waste.
Not sure exactly how strong the castle would be what with the burglars having no trouble getting in.
Those merlons are absolutely massive
I suppose the modern version of a castle is a police station
O'Hogan Klan was there eh perhaps 🤔
My daughter has saw the dungeon in arundel castle
Woooop Di do!!!..
When did she get out?? What was she in for?? How long did she do??
I'll bet that the handrail wasn't there.
They’re using cement 1140?
Cement had been used for a long time at that point. The ancient greeks and romans also used cement several centuries before
More likely lime mortar
Boiling sewage was a poliorcetic favourite. Think about it, some truths are self evident.
It seems like the Saxons could have starved the Normans out of England.
Well, it IS STILL standing!....just add some heat seeking missile (etc.),.... and it IS still “ready”....nough said!
just found out I'm a direct descendant of the fitzalans
Would it be fair to say.. the recording of history is when we lost our true freedom?
Hi 73J
0:13 me when on my, me when i'm way on, my who to way, me on my way mom to, mom who me to, me here, on...
I think Dover Castle was stronger.
Well have you ever seen Warwick Castle.....good luck getting in their with a ladder !! ))
I agree Dover is very formidable, but Warwick also has it merits, I think the medieval military engineers had a good eye for the lay of the land in both.
@@Bonzman Agreed. I think that both of them were stronger than Arundel and also Kennilworth Castle with its water defences.
@@jamesdaltrey2878 I've been there James; it's a great castle in a terrific defensive position (the armour collection is fantastic).
@@jamesdaltrey2878 There...
They do not throw down stones. They hurl farm animals and insults.
Boiling water would NOT "do the trick" besides not sticking to you it would be bloody cold by the time it got all the way down there try it yourself
Ah, the medieval weapons expert here...
@@garrl007 no just a chemist.
FRENCH
invasion, not Norman invasion. The duchy arose out of a grant of land to the Viking leader Rollo by the French king Charles III in 911. William was Duke under the rule of King Henry I of France, enabling him to succeed to his father's duchy.
C'etait une invasion Normande comme en Sicile
A grant of land given under THREAT. The Normans and the Dukedom were there because the French were too chicken shit to deal with them. Eventually Henry I was defeated twice by the Normans which meant William was safe to invade Sussex.
Calling it a French invasion is quite misleading. The Normans held no love for the King of France.
@@doug6500 Norman approved
Love your vids, very well informed and presented.
But the Normans didn't have cement.
If you wish a very loose sense, yes, a binding material - cements of one kind or another since antiquity. No argument.
Modern viewers will think of what's called 'Portland cement', which is only 200 years old or so.
Mortar, cements in general, yes, but not modern cement.