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fortunate Catherine Howard. This Sir Thomas attached himself 

 to the Duke of Somerset, and was tried for conspiring to murder 

 the Duke of Northumberland. The jury, after being- shut up for 

 .a day and a night, found him guilty, and he was executed. But 

 his innocence was stoutly maintained and is asserted in a Latin 

 inscription on a stone tablet in the castle. The property, after 

 being confiscated, was bought back into the family. Quieter 

 times followed till the outbreak of the Civil War in the reign 

 ■of Charles I., whose cause Lord Arundel naturally supported. 

 While he was away fighting for the king, the defence of the 

 ■castle was left to his wife, a lady then Gl years of age. She had 

 only 25 soldiers and about as many servants, male and female, to 

 defend the place, and as the assailants numbered 1,300, the small 

 ^garrison was kept on the strain night and day, and the maids 

 had to help load the muskets. The siege began April 30, 1643. 

 Terms were offered for capitulation, with safe conduct and respect- 

 ful treatment for all the women, but they were not accepted until 

 a promise was made to spare the lives of all the men. This was 

 secured on May 8, and then, the walls being partly undermined 

 and the main doors shattered, the castle surrendered. Lady 

 Arundel was sent to Shaftesbury and afterwards to Bath, and 

 lived to survive these troublous times. But Lord Arundel died 

 of w r ounds received at the battle of Lansdown ; and the castle, 

 •after being plundered, was garrisoned by the Parliamentarians. 

 It therefore had to stand a second siege when the next Lord 

 Arundel appeared before it with an armed force. It w T as theni that 

 the main damage was done to the building, for the Parliamen- 

 tarians made a determined resistance, and it was not till March, 

 1644, when the walls were badlv shattered by mines and the gar- 

 rison was in danger of starvation, that an honourable capitula- 

 tion was arranged. On the whole, the English fighting forces 

 treated one another well during this war. 



The main features of the castle as erected by Lord Love! in 

 1392 still survive. The style is the beautiful Early Perpendicular 

 'of the period. The ground plan is a square w T ith an added hexa- 

 gon, and with four massive tow r ers flanking the corners of the 

 quadrangle. At the entrance was a double portcullis. On the 

 eastern side are the great windows of the banqueting hall. Over 

 the main entrance is a niche containing a head of our Saviour 

 with the words " Sub nomine tuo stet genus et domus " — Lender 

 Thy protection may our house and race be upheld. Beneath this 

 is a tablet carved with the arms of the family and a long Latin 

 inscription asserting the innocence of the Thomas Arundel above 

 mentioned. / 



It will thus be seen that we have here a castle, but not a very 

 strong castle such as stood at Corfe. It w T as capable of being 

 held for a short time against a greatly superior force, but unless 

 relieved could not stand a prolonged attack aided with gunpowder. 

 It belongs to a transition period and has the character both of a 



