Bramber Castle

Bramber Casle lies in the village of the same name, in the county of West Sussex in England.

Bramber Castle was built around 1070 by the 1st Lord of Bramber; the Norman William de Braose. It served as the administrative hub of the newly created Rape of Bramber, and controlled the River Adur estuary.

The Anglo-Norman House of Braose held the castle until 1208, when William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber, had fallen out of favor with King John of England and all his possessions, including Bramber Castle were seized. The castle was re-granted, in 1218, to William's son; Reginald, by King Henry III of England. From then on it remained in the hands of the de Braose family until they died out in 1326. It then passed to the Bohuns.

In 1328 it passed to the Anglo-Norman House of Mowbray. The Mowbray's were probably absentee lords but kept the castle in repair until the 1380s. Sometime after that the castle was probably abandoned and fell to ruin, as by the 1550s it was described as "the late castle" and its grounds were used for grazing.

The castle consisted of a motte with an inner and outer bailey circled by dry ditches. The ditches and the reduced motte remain, as do some parts of the curtain wall, part of the former gate tower and the rubble cores of another wall tower.

At present the grounds of Bramber Castle serve as a village park and are freely accessible. A nice ruin but with little architectural detail.

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