My previous posts explained what happened to the Arundel church building after King Henry VIII parted from the Church of Rome and declared himself Head of The Church of England. Despite Henry’s actions Catholic missionary priests were able to continue their teachings in Arundel:

The reign of King Henry VIII saw traumatic change with the dissolution of the monasteries and religious houses. In 1544 the College was dissolved and in 1558 the old Catholic hierarchy came to an end. It was from this time until 1748 that Arundel was served in secret from Slindon House, in a neighbouring parish, where missionary priests were provided by the Kemp family. From 1748 there commences list of reinstated Catholic chaplains who served the domestic chapel which had been reinstated in  Arundel Castle; they also served the Catholic population of Arundel until 1850, when the Catholic hierarchy was re-established and a rector of the parish appointed once more.*

The old chapel of the College throughout all these vicissitudes remained in Catholic hands; it is now called the Fitzalan Chapel and is where Requiem Masses are still offered for the founder of the Cathedral and all those buried in its vaults. It forms the chancel of the old parish church and, despite the sorrows of the Reformation, it is an enduring witness to Catholic continuity. Although divided from the now Anglican Church by a 14th-century grille and latterly a glass screen, this in no way implies a division in faith, but rather a protection of the privacy of what has always been a private chapel. It was from this chapel in 1971 that the mortal remains of St Philip Howard were brought to be enshrined in the cathedral which now proudly claims him as patron.*

This great church owes its existence to the generosity and foresight of Henry, 15th Duke of Norfolk, the Earl Marshal, who commissioned the building in 1869. The architect was Joseph Aloysius Hansom.

The church opened on the 1st July 1873 as the Catholic Parish Church of Arundel. It was originally dedicated to St. Philip Neri but when the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton was created in 1935 the church became the Cathedral of our Lady and St. Philip. In 1971 the remains of the martyred 13th Earl of Arundel, St. Philip Howard (1557-1595) were enshrined in the Cathedral and the dedication was changed to the present one of Our Lady and St. Philip Howard.**

* From the Arundel Cathedral guidebook

** From a welcome message on entry to the Cathedral

After a good nights sleep we made our way across the courtyard to the breakfast room. The food options were extensive and the quality of the breakfast was fine but the service was disorganised.  We were given the cooked breakfast menu to peruse and the waiter came back very quickly by which time Mr C was away from the table looking at the buffet table. The waiter asked me if we would like to order off the cooked menu. I said that we hadn’t decided yet and he said he would come back in a few minutes. He didn’t. We had to flag someone else down to take order. When the waiter came back he struggled with our order because he did not have pen and paper to write it down. He had to come back to double check the order, by which time Mr C was back at the buffet table using the toast machine. Luckily I had been attentive when Mr C made his order and was able to correct the mistakes of the waiter. Eventually our breakfasts arrived correctly as ordered.

A couple was seated on the table next to us and they ordered tea and coffee which was delivered. They then went to to the cold buffet table to choose some breakfast options but whilst they were away their tea and coffee along with the cups and plates were cleared from the table and they had to re-order!

After breakfast we embarked on a walking tour around Cambridge taking in many points of interest. The morning air was rather cool and Mr C had forgotten to pack warm coat so he got rather chilly. We called into John Lewis to see if he could find a suitable fleece or jumper. Whilst there we had morning coffee, the service was exceedingly slow… We ventured further into the shopping centre looking for somewhere else that might sell a suitable garment. Whilst Mr C was pondering, I looked up and noticed the perfect shop for a warm garment; ‘The North Face’. After a bit of searching Mr C was able to find a suitable fleece for his requirements. Whilst walking around the city we encountered several demonstrations including one about the Catalonian situation and another by the Anonymous group of political activists.

We then made our way to Fitzbillies for lunch. Fitzbillies makes the ultimate chelsea bun (to a secret recipe). The queue was as long as my guidebook said it would be so we took the advice and ordered a takeaway to enjoy on the river bank.

Just as we had finished enjoying the tasty delight, Mr C exclaimed ‘Oh No!”.  I thought a bit of stickiness from the bun had landed on his trousers but it was even worse. A bird had flown over and sent him a sticky message. What a good job he had finished eating the tasty delight before the bird decided to drop by.

We continued our walk along the river pausing to watch punters on the river Cam before making our way to King’s College Chapel. The chapel is stunning and despite the number of visitors, it was peaceful. On the way back to the hotel, we returned to John Lewis to pick up a couple of items we had noticed earlier in the day, taking in another slow refreshment break. Back at the hotel we weren’t really surprised to find yesterday’s empty champagne bottle and bucket still in the room.

We had chosen to dine in a pub that was close to our hotel. The food was good, honest, home cooked pub food. Whilst we were dining the pub, filled up with students arriving for a pub quiz. The atmosphere was vibrant and full of life;however we decided to move to the pub next door before the quiz got into full flow. There were some colourful characters in the new pub, including a rather aggressive man who made me feel quite uncomfortable. He was arguing with the friends that he came in with. He left coming back some time later with a takeaway that he ate in a pub that serves food!

Next a buzz of students entered the bar, boys and girls in pairs with their middle legs tied together, buying shots and G&T’s whilst giggling with laughter as they squeezed themselves into an impossibly small corner of the bar before taking selfies with each other as they were leaving for their next pub.

Despite good intentions we set off on our journey to Cambridge later than intended. This meant we had to break for lunch on the motorway. The services in that part of the world are limited so we opted for a sandwich in Greggs.

We arrived at the hotel at 13.30 to find that our room was already available so we unloaded the car and put our cases in the room before heading into the centre of Cambridge. The  champagne that we had ordered to be in our room on arrival, with a view to us enjoying drinking it before we went to dinner, was not there. We thought perhaps it was a little early and that it would be there when we returned from our afternoon in the city centre.

We walked across the Jesus Lock footbridge and through Jesus Green to the centre which was heaving with people who obscured the buildings and architecture as they rushed around. The atmosphere was warm and vibrant but I was struggling for photographic inspiration. We visited two excellent bookshops, one of which was the Cambridge University Press. Both had extensive Religion/Theology sections and I ended up buying a book from each. We stopped off at a cafe for a drink and a naughty cake before returning to the hotel to freshen up for dinner.

Back in our room we found that the champagne had still not arrived. Mr C called reception who were a bit bemused leading him to take the booking confirmation that showed the pre-order. They were still bemused and advised that he would have to pay extra and would we like Prosecco. Mr C advised that ‘No! we would not like Prosecco as we had paid for champagne’. The hotel receptionist could not get through to the bar but eventually the champagne arrived and was left in its bucket with two glasses to the side. The tray was taken away… As an aside the champagne, although pleasant, was not as good as the Prosecco we had enjoyed in Ravello.

We found dinner in the hotel to be average and the service a little chaotic. We ordered an aperitif after being asked if we would like one. We waited and waited, eventually it turned up just a couple of minutes before the starter arrived, with wine arriving just a few minutes later. “Would we like to try the wine?” “Ermmm… No! we would like to drink the aperitif first!” The plates for the starter were cleared and then there was a long delay before the main course arrived. When it was time to order dessert we ordered profiteroles to share. The waitress advised that it was small to which I said, “how small,” the waitress replied “OK”, and walked off…

Once we had finished our dinner we retired to the bar area where we encountered some very strange characters including a man wearing high red ladies boots and carrying a red handbag. He left with a lady who had a deep manlike voice who I had overheard bemoaning her circumstances to the bar tender. I only heard snatches of the conversation but her circumstances  seemed quite odd!

When we returned to our room we found that, due to the removal of the tray, condensation from the champagne bucket had flowed all over the dressing table…