Arundel

This article is about the town in England. For other uses, see Arundel (disambiguation).
Arundel

Town overlooked by castle
Arundel
 Arundel shown within West Sussex
Area  12.13 km2 (4.68 sq mi) [1]
Population 3,475 (Civil Parish.2011)[2]
   – density  286/km2 (740/sq mi)
OS grid referenceTQ018070
   – London  49 miles (79 km) NNE 
Civil parishArundel
DistrictArun
Shire countyWest Sussex
RegionSouth East
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town ARUNDEL
Postcode district BN18
Dialling code 01903
Police Sussex
Fire West Sussex
Ambulance South East Coast
EU Parliament South East England
UK ParliamentArundel and South Downs
List of places
UK
England
West Sussex

Coordinates: 50°51′16″N 0°33′14″W / 50.85439°N 0.5539°W / 50.85439; -0.5539

Arundel (/ˈærəndəl/ or local /ˈɑːndəl/) is a market town and civil parish in a steep vale of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. It lies 49 miles (79 km) SSW of London, 18 miles (29 km) WNW of the English Channel town of Brighton, and 10 miles (16 km) east of the county town of Chichester. Larger nearby towns include Worthing, Littlehampton and Bognor Regis. The much-conserved town with large green buffers has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Although smaller in population than most other parishes, Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much larger Chichester in its number of listed buildings in West Sussex. The River Arun runs through the eastern side of the town.

Arundel was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Reform Act 1835. From 1836-1889 the town had its own Borough police force with a strength of three.[3] In 1974 it became part of the Arun district, and now is a civil parish with a town council.

Name

The name was spelled Arundell. The modern spelling dates to the 18th century.[4]

The etymology of the name is usually derived from the name of River Arun, a British hydronym, combined with Anglo-Saxon dell.[5]

A popular etymology, reflected in the municipal coat of arms, connects the Norman French word for "swallow", aronde.[6]

Governance

An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward stretches north to Houghton with a total population as taken at the 2011 census of 4,298.[7]

Geography

The River Arun at Arundel.

Arundel civil parish occupies an area somewhat larger than its built-up clusters, with the old town towards the north and the new to the south, separated by a main road.[8]

Arundel town is a major bridging point over the River Arun as it was the lowest road bridge until the opening of the Littlehampton swing bridge in 1908. Arundel Castle was built by the Normans to protect that vulnerable fairly wooded plain to the north of the valley through the South Downs. The town later grew up on the slope below the castle to the south.[9] The river was previously called the Tarrant and was renamed after the town by antiquarians in a back-formation.

Arundel includes meadows to the south but is clustered north of the A27 road, which narrowly avoids the town centre by a short and congested single carriageway bypass. Plans for a more extensive, HQDC bypass were debated intensely between 1980 and 2010 and built a junction for it at Crossbush. Arundel railway station is on the Arun Valley Line. The Monarch's Way long-distance footpath passes through the town and crosses the river here, while just under five miles north and north-west of the town the route of the South Downs Way runs.

The town itself lies outside the boundaries of the South Downs National Park.

Society

Arundel is home to Arundel Castle, seat of the Duke of Norfolk; and to Arundel Cathedral, seat of the (Catholic) Bishop of Arundel and Brighton.

On 6 July 2004, Arundel was granted Fairtrade Town status.[10]

People born in Arundel are known locally as Mullets, due to the presence of mullet in the River Arun.[11]

Arundel is home to one of the oldest Scout Groups in the world. 1st Arundel (Earl of Arundel's Own) Scout Group was formed in 1908 only a few weeks after Scouting began.[12] Based in an HQ in Green Lane Close, it has active sections of Beaver Scouts, Cub Scouts and Scouts.

Sport and leisure

Arundel has a non-League football club Arundel F.C. who play at Mill Road.

The town also has its own cricket ground at the castle, often cited as being one of the country's most picturesque.[13] It hosts Sussex County Cricket Club for a number of games each season.

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ↑ "2001 Census: West Sussex – Population by Parish" (PDF). West Sussex County Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 June 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2009.
  2. ↑ Key Statistics; Quick Statistics: Population Density United Kingdom Census 2011 Office for National Statistics Retrieved 21 November 2013
  3. ↑ Neville Poulsom, Mike Rumble and Keith Smith 'Sussex Police forces;a pictorial history from 1836 to 1986' (Middleton Press) (1987) ISBN 0 906520 436
  4. ↑ Allison, Francis D. (1931). The Story of Arundel. Arundel Press. p. 16.
  5. ↑ "Armis". Romanmap.com. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  6. ↑ "ARUNDEL - Online Information article about ARUNDEL". Encyclopedia.jrank.org. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  7. ↑ "Ward population 2011". Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  8. ↑ "Parish Headcounts, Area: Arundel CP". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. 2001. Retrieved 5 April 2008.
  9. ↑ Arundel Castle, Schedule Ancient Monument and Grade I listed building Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1012500)". National Heritage List for England.
  10. ↑ Fairtrade town status Archived 7 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ↑ "Facts about West Sussex". West Sussex County Council. 23 October 2006. Archived from the original on 8 June 2009. Retrieved 28 March 2009.
  12. ↑ "Forward! Once more..." (PDF). Newsletter Issue 1. Arundel Scout Group. January 2008. p. 1. Retrieved 16 March 2009.
  13. ↑ Cricinfoengland
  14. ↑ http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/constable-landscape-with-cottage-and-figures-t03236
  15. ↑ "Descents of Memory - The Life of John Cowper Powys" - M Krissdottir pub Duckworth 2007

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arundel.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Arundel (England).
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/17/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.