Arundel Crescent

Named in 1974, Arundel Crescent commemorates the Sussex seat of the Duke of Norfolk.

Arundel is a market town in East Sussex, about eighty kilometres from London in the South Downs of West Sussex. The River Arun runs through the eastern part of the town. The name probably derives from the Old English for eagle-dell or valley of the eagles.

The town boasts a medieval castle, established in the time of William the Conqueror, damaged in the English Civil War, and restored in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The castle has been in the family of the Duke of Norfolk for over 400 years.

Arundel Cathedral follows the designs of Joseph Hansom, also the inventor of the Hansom cab, and was completed in 1873. It was recently rededicated to the canonised martyr St Philip Howard.

People born in Arundel are known locally as Mullets, due to the presence of that fish in the River Arun.

Arundel is home to one of the oldest Scout Groups in the world. The 1st Arundel (Earl of Arundel's Own) Scout Group was formed in 1908 only a few weeks after Scouting began.

The Arundel brewery prides itself on its fine Sussex Ales. The brewery has a firm connection with the past. Its Sussex mild is an award winner.

Closer to home, Arundel near Geraldine in the South Island was settled where the bridge crossing the Rangitata River was constructed in 1872. This was the only bridge connecting South Canterbury with the rest of Canterbury, until the 1930s when a road bridge was built on State Highway One. While its cemetery has seen 160 burials, the population of this South Island village itself has apparently never exceeded 100.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.