It is rich in family tombs of great interest and beauty, including that of the nineteenth Earl of Arundel, the patron of William Caxton.

In the siege of Arundel Castle in 1643, the soldiers of the parliamentarians, under Sir William Waller, fired their cannon from the church tower.

They also turned the church into a barracks, and injured much stone work beyond repair.

A fire beacon blazed of old on the spire to serve as a mark for vessels entering Littlehampton harbour.
Bevis of Southampton, the giant who, when he visited the Isle of Wight, waded thither, was a warder at Arundel Castle; where he ate a whole ox every week with bread and mustard, and drank two hogsheads of beer.
Hence "Bevis Tower." His sword Morglay is still to be seen in the armoury of the castle; his bones lie beneath a mound in the park; and the town was named after his horse.

So runs a pretty story, which is, however, demolished with the ruthlessness that comes so easily to the antiquary and philologist.