Site of a castle of motte and bailey type. The Earl of Sussex built the castle shortly after the Conquest to overawe the township and Rape of Chichester in the North of the Roman military settlement. It then passed to the Earls of Arundel. In 1217 ithe King ordered its destruction. The site then came into possession of the Greyfriars. The remains of the raised mound (motte) are still visible today in Priory Park.
This was the fortress of the rape of Chichester, and was granted by the Conqueror to Roger de Montgomeri, Earl of Chichester and Arundel, with eighty-three other manors. The castle in the reign of Henry III, formed part of the dowry of the Queen Mother. Its destruction was ordered by King John, as in the case of several other castles, but this was apparently not carried out, since we find that in 1217, after the accession of Henry III., orders were issued to Philip de Albini to throw down and destroy this fortress, which was effected as far as its defences were concerned. In 1219 it was made into a prison, and later in the same reign it was made to serve as a dwelling for the Bishop.
No traces remain now of the structure, unless it be in an artificial mound of moderate height in the Priory Park. It is said that the original castle was built by the Earl d’Alencon in the N.E. quarter of the old Roman camp of Regnum, where the South Saxons had occupied the S.W. quarter with the fabric of their first cathedral. (Castles Of England, Sir James D. Mackenzie, 1896)
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