The site on which the castle stands was endowed to the
See of Selsey by
Cædwalla of Wessex in AD 683. When the bishopric was removed to Chichester, after the
Norman conquest, it continued to be held by the
Bishops of Chichester. The first recorded structure was a timber-framed lodge built by Bishop
Ralph de Luffa in 1103. This was knocked down in 1140 by Bishop
Seffrid I and replaced by a more elaborate stone hall, to which Bishop
Seffrid II added the East Wing in 1200. A larger Great Hall was added by Bishop
John Langton between 1305 and 1337, when the site became known as the Bishop of Chichester's Summer Palace. Bishop
William Reade had the Great Hall knocked down and replaced by a better one. In 1377, at the beginning of the
Hundred Years War, there was a concern that the south coast of England would be raided by the French, so the bishop applied for, and received,
permission to fortify the site and add the gatehouse and oubliette. Walls up to 40 feet high were built round the whole site. in 1982 to Hollis Baker, in 1987 to an American family and in 1988 to Joy and Martin Cummings, who converted it to an award-winning country house hotel. From 2004 to present, the castle is a member of
Relais & Châteaux. ==See also==