The first village, South Stoke, has an Early English church with
sedilia and other details. North Stoke has a fine Norman door worthy of
inspection. Here a British canoe was discovered in the last century; it
may be seen in the Lewes Museum. Across the river, and only to be
approached by a detour past Amberley Station, is Houghton. From the
bridge over the Arun is a very beautiful retrospect of the valley
towards Arundel with the hills falling in graceful curves to the river.
The church is Early English of a severe type; here is a fifteenth
century brass but nothing more of much interest.
A mile from Houghton Bridge will bring us to Amberley. The village is
built on a low hill or cliff immediately above the "wild brooks" or
water meadows of the Arun, and is famous for the picturesque remains of
the palace of the Bishops of Chichester, which still edge the sandy
hill in front of the village. Amberley Castle, as the residence has
always been called, was built in the reign of Richard II, about 1379,
and then consisted of a crenellated building with square corner towers
and two round gate towers; the present house, which stands within the
walls, was erected in the early sixteenth century by Bishop Sherbourne.
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