Directly opposite Arundel Castle is Arundel Museum which tells the history of the town spanning over thousands of years. It was founded in 1963 by a group of local people who founded the Arundel Museum Society, a registered charity that still runs the museum. It moved to its present location next to the River Arun in 2013. Tickets are £5 though you do get a discount if you show your ticket to Arundel Castle.
The museum is staffed on the whole by volunteers who were lovely and very welcoming. It’s also very small and so doesn’t take very long to go around. This does mean however that it is full of interesting items with a layout that makes the most of the available space. Intricate models of ships like this one of the Michelgrove which was built in Arundel are prominent.
And the Isabella Wilson which carried goods up the River Arun during the 1880s.
Naturally there are the usual World War II artefacts including the remains of a German bomber that was shot down and crashed into nearby Swanbourne Lake on 13th August 1940.
One interesting item on display was this sedan chair from around 1750. The museum has no idea how it came into their collection but with a coronet on its back it intriguingly could have been owned by a local countess or even the Mayor of Arundel.
There’s also a newly created exhibition space which at the time of my visit had these really lovely pieces of artwork of local scenery all created in embroidery by the Arundel Creative Embroiderers. All these pieces were created during the COVID lockdowns using as inspiration illustrations from Rena Gardiner’s book “Portrait of Arundel”.
It’s a nice little museum and well worth visiting if you’re in the town.
Louise Jayne's Blog 