Amberley Castle is in the village of Amberley

Amberley, West Sussex

Amberley is a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England.Amberley is situated at the foot of the South Downs. Its neighbours are Storrington, West Chiltington and Arundel. The village is noted for its many thatched cottages...

, West Sussex

West Sussex

West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...

 . It is a Grade I listed building.

It was erected as a 12th century manor house

Manor house

A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...

 and fortified in 1377. It then had a stonework enclosure with high curtain walls, towers, a hall and a gateway and was used as a fortress for the bishops of Chichester

Bishop of Chichester

The Bishop of Chichester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the Counties of East and West Sussex. The see is in the City of Chichester where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity...

.

It has now been much modified and is in use as a hotel, which is ranked as one of the Top 10 Castle Hotels Worldwide by Gayot.com.

On the 4th of August 2007 Holly Willoughby

Holly Willoughby

Holly Marie Willoughby is an English television presenter and model, known for her work in presenting children's TV and entertainment shows. In her early career she modelled underwear and went on to present CD:UK...

married Dan Baldwin there.

External links

• Amberley Castle , official web site