Bramber Castle stands upon a headland thrust out into the valley and
the Weald in the very mouth of the pass; and even in its ruin, only an
old gateway tower and a fragment of the lofty barbican in which is a
Norman window remain. It is easy to understand how important and how
strong it must once have been. Indeed, Norman though these remains
are, it was by no means the Normans who first fortified this
promontory and held this pass. It is probable that the Castle of
Bramber occupies the site of a Roman Castellum and a Saxon fortress,
some say a palace of the Saxon kings. After the Conquest the castle
came into the hands of the great William de Braose, lord of Braose,
near Falaise in Normandy, who received such great estates in England
from the Conqueror. He fixed his seat, however, here at Bramber, and
built or rebuilt the Castle which became the greatest fortress in his
possession. Later, by marriage, it passed to the Mowbrays, and from
them descended to the Dukes of Norfolk, the present Duke, indeed,
still holding it. It is, however, of William de Braose we think in
Bramber; for he not only built the great Castle which gives its
character to the place even to-day, but the church of St Nicholas
also, under the Castle, of which the nave and tower of his time only
remain.
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