Amberley Castle was constructed as a 12th-century manor house and fortified in 1377, giving it a rhomboid shaped stonework enclosure with high curtain walls, internal towers in each corner, a hall and a gateway. It was used as a fortress by the bishops of Chichester. The walls, gateway and two of the towers remain as a Grade I listed building and are now in use as an exclusive privately owned hotel.

 

The castle was reputedly haunted by the ghost of a servant girl from the 1300's who was unable to stop the "lustful attentions" of a bishop. She became pregnant and died in childbirth. Her ghost is said to look mournful as she watches from the walls of the castle.

The Rectory at Amberley was once reputed to be host to what Joseph Braddock described as ‘an evil haunting’.

 

Two apparitions were reported there, these being that of a young girl and an old man. According to sources, the skeletons of of a young girl and an adult female were discovered beneath the dining room floor in 1904.

 

Pictured left is a view looking towards the rectory at Amberley courtesy of Basher Eyre.