Arundel’s ostentatious 19th-century Catholic cathedral is one of the dominating features on the town’s impressive skyline. Commissioned by the 15th Duke of Norfolk in 1868, the impressive structure was designed by Joseph Aloysius Hansom (inventor of the Hansom cab) in the French Gothic style, but shows much Victorian economy and restraint. Although small for a cathedral – it holds just 500 worshippers – Hansom’s clever layout makes the building seem a lot bigger.
A 1970s shrine in the north transept holds the remains of St Philip Howard, a canonised Catholic martyr who was banged up in the Tower of London by Elizabeth I until his death in 1595 for reverting to Catholicism. The building attracts only a trickle of tourists, rare indeed for a cathedral in southern England.
