Walks in England: Bramber Castle and its History

good morning and welcome to a bright Sunday morning and one another walk this time I'm at Bramber I'm at Bramber castle or the remains of bramble castle there isn't a great deal here to see but what there is is a lot of history and that's what I want to tell you about today bramble castle one of the first Norman castles to be erected shortly after the Norman invasion of 1066 was built by William dubrow's the Baron who accompanied William the Conqueror and fought at Hastings he was rewarded with land in Sussex and he built his castle as a center of administration and to guard the important port that Stenning which is close by this large Flint wall is really all that's left to give an indication of how impressive the castle must have been it's part of the gatehouse which originally was smaller and then was later enlarged to become a keep it's 70 foot tall and five foot thick made from Flint and chalk but it was probably encased in stone to make it impregnable I'm standing in an area called the Bailey a large enclosed area protected by a curtain wall much of that sadly has disappeared in front of me is the Motte on which the original stronghold would have stood the Motte is a man-made Hill as you can see trees and shrubbery have covered it but fortunately it's still accessible this wasn't built by the Normans however no it's earlier than that the Saxons had their stronghold at Bramber well before the Normans invaded let's go up and have a look [Music] [Music] it's slippery up here have disagreeably careful and I climb up about 30 foot or so high are you getting to the top if muddy and had rained yesterday evidence I can see it was fire very tough not a lot of space up here but enough for a wooden stronghold of some description people always assumed that it was the the Normans that brought the castles and while they brought the masonry technology into England and Britain we were building castles here the Saxons mainly built in timber and motte-and-bailey castles were fairly common around the country the original mound here probably dug from and a defensive ditch which would have encircled this Motte some 15 feet deep and or maybe more which would have produced the mud for the mound the actual the whole of the area here is on a natural mound as weld which is surrounded now by the remains of the curtain wall which the Normans erected when they came in 1066 but the Saxons had their own administration for Britain when the Saxon Kings were were all trying to define what Britain was and tin until King Alfred really so let's put a bit of a timeframe on this as I stroll around you had the Saxons who had their Martin Bailey and some form of administration in 1066 the Normans invaded one of the Barons that came with the Normans was William de Barros and William de Barros was responsible for bramble castle the Saxon name Brandel was brinda a burr being fortified place and so consequently over the years of course Brimmer turned to Bramber the Normans being their dominant fighting force determined to take over Britain and make it their own which of course they did erecting much stronger much more impressive and much impregnable castles is our amazing walls big thick chunky walls of Flint and rubble lamely chalk they were probably faced I imagine with some sort of facing stone just to make them even more impregnable they're quite term appear quite low at the moment they would have risen a lot higher as I walk around I'm stunned by the beauty of the surrounding place I'm looking here now towards the east and not too far from here about quarter of a mile I guess is the river the river ADA and then beyond you can see the downs defensive downs back then the river ADA may not have been in the same place it is now because rivers moved and also the whole area was probably much more marshy a morass of water and marsh and pretty pretty unpleasant to wade through which added to the defense of this particular area here as I come now have basically the remains I think of the living quarters the main living quarters I mean there may have been timber Hut's timber buildings timber framed cottages and various halls and things over the years but in terms of masonry probably from the original period that the building was built and I can't say for sure we have these rather fascinating little bits of hall and room which of course would have been topped with timber giving out two terrific views across the East plains of Sussex so from the gatehouse here and later keep on to the bridge that either went across the moat or the defensive ditch and I'm going to go and venture down into what's left of the defensive ditch that surrounds this natural province and down into the into the lower ditch which of course would have been lower now it is believed that it was filled with water I read an account that it was fed by local stream from the river aider and so that's not completely impossible to believe it's quite an amazing trench that would have had to have been dug I'm always impressed by these great earthworks which were made by by many hundreds of men using the primitive tools it's now pretty much overgrown and you can imagine that a formidable moat like this would have made getting across quite a tricky business for any invading alleys and of course them you might think well who would who would be wanting to attack well once the barons had got established they often sell out with each other and they were all craving power and so very often barons were challenged for their lands and rights and various things the human nature is greed anger and I think they negotiated much I think the sword the sword did all the negotiations if i angle myself around here and look up you can see there's quite a height there before you get up and then there's the curtain'd wall that would have prevented you getting easy access so even if it wasn't a moat and it was just literally a ditch which in many ways would be tough enough to get down into the ditch and then climb up when you're obviously open to attack from arrows and whatever other weaponry that the the Normans would have had and then when they when they became more English that the English would have had here again you can sorta get a measure of the steepness of the slopes and they would have been designed to be as absolutely steep as possible but I think this is not only not only is it steep there to sort of stop people but I think also as I have mentioned before it it's that dominance in the landscape it's the power that these Normans these barons are relating to the world around them we are in charge we are your superiors you will submit to our laws and of course people had no choice they had to do it it is pretty lush down here and even now coming down thousands or years later it's very impressive I love going out on these sort of walks around history and of course you can't go anywhere in Britain without engaging with history I mean it's basically probably not a square inch that does not have some historic reference and that's what makes these walks these explorations fascinating for me and hopefully for the viewer back in the Victorian period the castle became a bit of a novelty in a place for people to go for picnics they erected tea rooms and so people would come from fair distance and pay to come up into the Bailey onto the green there and enjoy the views enjoy the countryside the fresh air of course and and and take T on the Bailey if you go back further in time - around the English Civil War there was some skirmishes here between the Roundheads and the Cavaliers and in fact it was after King Charles the first had been beheaded his son was making his way back trying to escape Charles the second trying to make his way to France and he'd come down from the Midlands and was on what's now a route called the Monarchs way and he came past Bramber toward Shoreham before he got a boat and managed to escape but at that time this place was full of parliamentarians and he didn't want anybody to know so it was in disguise and he went past there was a gun in placement some cannons and then what have you a belief fixed up into the church here the the rest of the the castle thereafter started to fall into ruin due to subsidence mostly and consequently the stonework was pinched by landowners to build houses and also to help build the roads in the area at the foot of the castle is the village of Bramber a beautiful place with fabulous architecture from ancient buildings to Tudor timber-framed cottages and intermix with more recent additions they've been carefully designed not to spoil the look of the place and I think they've done a pretty fine job at one point along this route there was a toll gate where travelers would pay to access the road that crossed the river ada still visible however on its promontory is that Lonesome gatehouse wall keeping a flinty eye on the inhabitants of Bramber let's enjoy then the final stroll around the village that charles ii beat a retreat in 1651 when he made his way to Shoreham after the Battle of Worcester [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] well that's another walk done another investigation another exploration of some of Britain's history I hope you enjoyed it and that you'll join me again when I go out on another walk taking whatever cameras I have available with me until then goodbye Oh

Channel: Richard Vobes

Views: 12,111

Keywords: bramber castle, hist of bramber, william de braose, castle, curtain wall, motte and bailey, motte, bailey. moat, defensive ditch, explore, castles of england, richard vobes, bald explorer, castle walk, village of bramber, steyning, River adur, west sussex, sussex, sussex castle, vobes, walks in England

Id: RRAsKlGEPIg

Length: 17min 13sec (1033 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 24 2017