Bramber Castle - exploring with Matt Easton

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I stumbled on Bramber Castle by accident and knowing nothing about it went exploring it with my camera. It turns out from subsequent internet research that some of my conclusions may have been a bit wrong, but I seem to have been mostly correct! It's also evident that not a huge amount is really conclusively known about this castle. It's certainly a beautiful and interesting site. I'd love to see some more archaeology done there.

[@theOrder-ls5gd]

plz do more of these types of videos

[@scholagladiatoria]

I will :-)

[@samprastherabbit]

scholagladiatoria If you upload it, we'll watch it! Who doesn't like castles?

[@Duzzies-101]

As an Australian I find it amazing the Europeans walk around surrounded by all these cool ancient monuments and it's just normal everyday life to them

[@scholagladiatoria]

There is something special about castles - there aren't *that* many of them. When I see a sign for one I usually stop and have a look.

[@Duzzies-101]

Yeh but the fact that you can just go and visit a castle is something I've been envious of for as long as i can remember

[@scholagladiatoria]

There is a medieval castle 2 miles from my house and 3 Victorian forts :-)

[@perfectibility999]

Metatron did a video at some ancient Greek ruins in Sicily that weren't a long ride away for him. While watching it I was thinking it must be really nifty to be able to see thousands of years of history in a rather small area, everything from ancient to medieval to early modern etc., as a pretty regular experience. Yeah, Europe's deep history is fascinating. Living in the eastern U.S., I feel like the 200 year old house where I live is old, but that's after living in Denver where most buildings went up in the last few decades, so my experience of being surrounded by history isn't so great even by U.S. standards.

[@SarahExpereinceRequiem]

I'm from Europe, where the history is from. -Eddie Izzard. Actually there's a lot of history in Australia too if you think about it just not the kind that in buildings. You can't really walk around an oral history...

[@brianknezevich9894]

I absolutely love your British Archeology videos and would like to see more.. Very much miss being on your side of the pond.

[@GaudialisCorvus]

I love how you can stumble upon a castle in England. Very interesting video!

[@RonOhio]

I'm lucky to stumble upon a bit of history from the 18th century here in the midwestern US. Thanks for taking the time to shoot that video and share it.

[@wildcat8985]

I Really enjoyed that video Matt. Great videography and explanation. Thank you for taking the time to do this for us

[@senatuspopulusqueromanus3011]

This video was awesome... You should do more like this one.

[@theswordguy5269]

Great piece! I love these little forgotten British castles. I hope you can someday do some videos on Welsh castles. There is NOTHING like walking the walls of Caernavon or Conwy, and the smaller castles like Castel Dinas Bran are wonderfully surreal.

[@rjfaber1991]

When I was in Kent for the first time, we stumbled upon a road called "Castle Hill" just a few hundred metres from where we were camping, and on top of it we found Thurnham Castle, so I can understand what it's like to stumble upon a castle by accident. Having said that, Thurnham Castle is just a few loose ruins these days, and the building itself has almost completely disappeared, but the earthworks are still intact, and it was still very nice to walk around bits of the castle grounds where walls and towers had recognisably once been constructed by the Normans...

[@SussexYank]

Only just found your channel! Interestingly, I made a video about Bramber Castle, too, and it can be found on my channel. It was one of the first things I discovered of historical note when I arrived in Sussex from the USA. The family that built the castle, the de Braoses, was quite historical, too. I'm working on a video about them.

[@MacLeannain]

I love when you do videos like this.

[@vytas5584]

Don't take this the wrong way but as an Australian I am amazed at how little Brits seem to know about their castles. If we had a castle in Australia, it would be all we talked about.

[@DavidB5501]

Just thinking about the building materials: the rubble of the walls is probably mainly flint nodules, abundant in Sussex chalk; the mortar would be made with lime from local chalk, burned using charcoal from local wood; and the facing stones, I guess, probably from sandstone which also occurs in Sussex, e.g. in Horsham a few miles to the north of Bramber. So the entire structure could have been made without transporting materials from very far away.

[@justsomeguy3931]

You're so lucky to just have stuff like this simply laying around

[@notpulverman9660]

Should've yelled some funny movie catch phrases, like "Archers!!" from that one movie where the king sharply yelled "archers!" to get the archers to do stuff!

[@caringancoystopitum4224]

Oh, you mean that one movie where the hero takes off his helmet, as soon as he's engaged in battle?

[@braydenj1327]

Helen of troy?

[@Lumpusax]

I really enjoy these kind of videos. Nicely done!

[@fdsdh1]

My guess is the use of the Motte was abandoned in favour of a Donjon, either the tower or very tall gatehouse. When the perimeter wall was built the slope below may have been made steeper, thus making the Motte surplus to requirement as the Donjon was made as defensible. The two tiered slope observed below the tower may have been a route up to the castle from below, as is often the case in order to get to the gate in many castles you'd have to walk around the outside of the perjmeter walls first to some degree.

[@deathdeathington]

You're in my neck of the woods. When it was built, the land around the hill would have been completely underwater. The church is the oldest Norman church in Britain, or the first one they built here.

[@bigredegg367]

Beeding boy here. Bramber Castle was literally my playground as a kid. West Sussex of course rather than East Sussex. Can actually see my mums house from where he zoomed in on Beeding.

[@davidbriggs264]

Two things. First, that tower where the lady and her dog were with the stepped lower portion, it seems to me that it could be that after the stone wall was built, and after the castle was abandoned, a portion of the wall fell, but was stopped by vegetation from going all the way, and it has not travelled any further. Second, don't forget that one thing you need in building a wooden building and palisade is a LOT of wood. And where do you get that? From the local vegetation, mostly (but not completely) trees.. Back when the castle was built you also needed a lot of firewood, and again that would come from the local vegetation.

[@theplayliszt-8-bitmusic426]

This is much better than the haunted asylum shit.

[@cpf7894]

Good video, deserves more views.

[@prechabahnglai103]

I'm liking this new series, what say you invest in a stabiliser?

[@scholagladiatoria]

Is that a kind of technology?...

[@wierdalien1]

scholagladiatoria yes it is, gimbal mounts for cameras so to smooth out wiggle

[@prechabahnglai103]

+scholagladitoria "Gimbal stabiliser", the one hand held version would work great.

[@samprastherabbit]

scholagladiatoria it's a small weight that you stuck under your camera (I know there's more to it than that) & it removes wobble from your footage. Results in really smooth video.

[@garthhayden4214]

Hi Matt I love your content. I'm an American archaeologist. Do you ever get over to Norfolk? I'd love to see you do a video like this for Baconsthorpe castle as I trace my family ancestry there. Awesome work

[@scojo6373]

Matt, I know you play some Mount & Blade, but have you seen Holdfast: Nations at War? The melee is still being worked on but I love it!

[@mtodd4723]

Thank you for sharing .

[@huldu]

Hm it says 1080p but the quality looks more like 480p...

[@MrTuohitorvi]

Man the south England is so lush with vegetation still. Fall is already over here in Finland :D

[@AeolethNionian]

Hey Matt, handy trick for the future. A meter is about 3ft. 20ft is about 7 meters.

[@WaffleSSSSSPLUS]

have you tried using a gimbal for your camera? it would really help with the shaking

[@MrCearl]

I think a couple of motte-and-baileys had already been built in Anglo-Saxon England before the Conquest under the auspices of Normans brought over by King Edward, Hereford Castle is the one I can best think of off at the top of my head.

[@edi9892]

The wall looks gnawed off like a rock eroded in a desert.

[@kgs42]

It could have been a bit of a one-off. Perhaps the ground was not suitable for big stone walls. The big stone 'finger' is what is left after the rest of the gatehouse fell into the big ditch in front of it due to subsidence. The perimeter wall is quite low for a typical castle curtain wall (relying on that drop for height?) and I think some of it fell forward down the drop on the outside. It could be Bramber had an unusual use and was subject to modification as needed at relatively short notice. I remember it was a prison for a political prisoner(s) of King John - I think they died there. Old drawings of the castle show it looking more like a defended enclosure rather than a typical castle from any particular time. The sea or access to the sea came up to the castle so possibly it was a protected port and place of departure and landing from up and down the coast and other countries. There were other castles not far away so maybe it operated in concert with them. But, yes, it is a beautiful, magical place.

[@MinesAGuinness]

You love Sussex, and Sussex loves you, Matt!

[@random2829]

Loved it!

[@jeremyhannaford1306]

De Bruis is the same as De Brus. This is the same name as what became (Clan) Bruce. There was a longish line of Robert de Bruis resulting in Robert Bruce but the line started with a Robert de Bruis who arrived in North England and Scotland after the Norman(/Breton) invasion.

[@tisFrancesfault]

I'd assume that room was a chapel, if the cardinal direction works for it. Those Norman's loved their religious buildings.

[@SimSpec]

Perhaps you should visit Amberley Castle just north of Arundel which I think you might also find interesting - tho' it is now a very expensive Hotel the walls are mostly intact

[@mikesummers-smith4091]

De Braose? My money says that's the same as De Brus. Guy de Brus landed with The Conqueror, and gave his name to Guisborough in North Yorkshire. His better-known descendants wound up in Scotland, and adopted the spelling 'Bruce'.

[@Nauct]

Cool video, I'd watch more like this

[@LordInter]

haiga saphia in Istanbul is made of robbed stone, you can still make out the "pagan" symbols etc and the cisterns, there's an upside down madusas head on one of the supporting columns trees also stop erosion of motes :-)

[@Sofus.]

Really like castle walks videos, and i am sure with a bit of equipment and learning it could be a profitable and fun youtube series.

[@cuteshadow]

Hey Matt, visit germany and Austra, there are a lot of ruins, or really nice castles. (Not talking about Neu Schwanstein)

[@aka99]

I agree. Lots of ruins in Germany!

[@kieranflanagan4603]

My family are called deSax but we originally came from Nababa in Turkey. Turkey, Iran, Phoenicia, Dacia, Germany, France. I don't know all the name changes but from middle ages Dragonesti, Namash, Namatti ..... deSax

[@GeFlixes]

9:36 "I've got verious other bits in me" snrrk...

[@Ben-xl7ft]

I live near here, Lovely place for a picnic!

[@scholagladiatoria]

Cool!

[@Ben-xl7ft]

I'll keep an eye out for you in the Castle Inn! :)

[@ladyofhay]

Copied from Wikipedia: William De Braose, 1st feudal baron, constructed the castle in about 1070, along with the Norman church, on a natural mound. Most of the surviving masonry dates from this time. Except for a period of confiscation during the reign of King John (1199-1216), Bramber Castle remained in the ownership of the de Braose family until the male line died out in 1326. Little is known of Bramber Castle's history. Records dating from the Civil War mention a 'skirmish' fought in the village in about 1642. The church suffered badly as a result of Roundhead guns being set up in the transepts, where they afforded a better vantage point to fire on Bramber Castle.

[@worthingpoppy7529]

Bramber is in West Sussex, not East Sussex.

[@orsettomorbido]

Amazing! Thanks :D

[@Aserash]

Those gaps in the wall look like eroded arrow loops to me.

[@Oialca]

I’m sitting on the curtain wall of Bramber as I watch this

[@plasmathunderdx]

ADVENTURES WITH MATT!

[@kevinsmith9013]

Fun!

[@Ogre-zr5zk]

Hypothetically motte with wooden keep, inner, & outer bailey walls was replaced with outer bailey curtain walls & inner structures with thinner walls of mostly faced stone that has all been reused in town leaving little to no evidence above ground... All that flat turf screams landscaped park. It looks like who ever picked that spot and designed the outer wall was relying on the height and steepness of the hill for the primary defense, why build walls 60 feet tall when you can build 8' walls on top a precipice.

[@Derna1804]

"We can see clear evidence of facing stones here, and OOh a butterfly," damn it Matt!

[@marcelosilveira2276]

9:39 sooo, is that where other castle of the complex would be? most games I know set a few castles within an area you can cross in 1~2 in-game days, I was wondering if that proportion matches reality or not

[@juliahenriques210]

The ideal would be at most a day from castle to castle, to enable quick perimeter defence. It was not always possible, though. Judging by your name, you seem to be Brazilian. Take a map of Rio de Janeiro and examine the distance between military forts around Guanabara Bay [Copacabana (Copacabana), Duque de Caxias (Leme), São João Fortress (Urca), Santiago Fortress (downtown), Santa Cruz da Barra Fortress (Niterói), São Luiz Fort, Pico Fort (Niterói)]. These are later sites, built to have intersectional fields of fire for cannons, but the same principle applies to sending out troops to intercept something.

[@marcelosilveira2276]

I'm impressed by your deduction skills and your knolodge of brazilian forts. That makes sense, though I considered that since castles came with ownership of the lands around them, they should be farther apart them mere forts, given that the more lands the noble that owned it could rule, the more important he would be... or maybe I misstook how prestige and lands correlated in feudal Europe... anyway, it makes sense that they would be close enough to quickly send reinforcements between them.

[@juliahenriques210]

Yes, it makes sense in the case of a central authority building those fortifications. Matt said that was the case with the Normans. William determined the spots to fortify along the coast and _then_ gave them to his retainers. The same goes for roman forts, or air bases. With a more organic development, yes, fortifications do tend to suit their owner's' immediate interests. If those are to be unassailable, you get one distribution (ex.: acropolis). If those are to defend primarilly from one direction, you get another distribution (ex.: Maginot line and its stationed divisions). You get the idea. With games, though, unless fortifications are meant to actually represent a real place, you shoud look at them in terms of playtime. How much will the average player take from here to there in their first playthrough? The very geography is crafted with that in mind, and then the level artists shape that into a believable landscape that seems to obey natural laws. ;) And I'm not so impressive. :P I live in Rio.

[@Emelefpi]

I really wish the camera wasn't so shaky - I find it really hard to watch - I end up just listening and not watching :/

[@willstonvelo8100]

It's West Sussex

[@kieranflanagan4603]

Easton is probably not east-town as the vast majority of english names are sourced from older native bloodlines. Ea's town is Dun Ea Dun, Edinburgh, more likely than medieval english.

[@kieranflanagan4603]

Du is temple, dun is temples, usually multideity hillfort with a central shrine dedicated to 1 specific deity eg Maiden Castle in Dorset, the central shrine is Eriu/Brigante and was called Eridu originally. Brigante is Britannia and Eriu is Ireland but both are same goddess. The Godking of Britain had his pyramid at Salisbury Tor, the Godking of Ireland had his pyramid at Navan Hill.

[@wierdalien1]

That wall filler material must have been a bitch to get up there and then make. That motte is surprising small.

[@jamesmiddleton6464]

Not quite enough room for all yhe necessary barrels of beer. That's why iy was abandoned after two hundred years.

[@JimCullen]

What in the hells is going on with the sky at around 9:20?

[@Kusiruukku]

Proof we life in the matrix?

[@remuladgryta]

Video compression gone wrong. A big part of storing video efficiently is looking at the sequence of images and just storing "this region is the same as before, but it's over here now" and any minor changes instead of an entire copy of every image. My guess is either the compression was too greedy trying to skimp of details that really were necessary or there was some mistake about "this is the same as before" referring to the wrong "before".

[@notpulverman9660]

**Alex Jones voice** CHEM TRAILS!!

[@Ranstone]

@ remuladgryta Beat me to it. Thanks for saving me key strokes. Remuladgryta is exactly right.

[@conncork]

Matt take a trip to Ireland its just full of castle ruins.

[@Pertinax193A.D.]

conncork maybe he should come to Germany we have even more XD

[@bearling477]

In america we randomly discover the wrong neighborhood. Its still pretty exciting.

[@Your_President_Kanye_East]

3:32 "...throw up castles..."??? o_O

[@Crystalgate]

While castle ruins are cool, I think the video had been even cooler had it been about "Bomber Castle - Exploding with Matt Easton" instead.

[@zoepalmer3668]

It’s West Sussex, not East Sussex.

[@docstockandbarrel]

👍🏻

[@SeriusSim]

I'm sure the three remaining users of the imperial measurement system really appreciate that you refrain from using the obviously superior metric system, also it is quite fitting for a channel dedicated to the history of obsolete technologies.

[@prechabahnglai103]

Could it have meant 'reap'? like with a reward

[@Correctrix]

It is probably from "rope", as a perimeter. There are at least five different words that have come to be spelt and pronounced "rape" in English.

[@wierdalien1]

Sam Vimes that makes a whole lotta sense. What I was going to suggest is that our word rape is descended from that word rape but after the Norman invasion and the brutal put downs of the rebellions it picked up more of the modern meaning. Of course convergent evolution is also likely

[@wierdalien1]

Sam Vimes I had no idea it was just a suggestion so thank you _doth ones hat_

[@Correctrix]

"Doth" and "doff" are totally different words.

[@wierdalien1]

Correctrix eh spelling. Apparently flexible.

[@nickmcginley920]

I think it was pronounced " de brews"

[@rtk3543]

West Sussex not East sussex.

[@beardedbjorn5520]

5:33 but I like looking at your face

[@MegaFarinato]

ok, the question everybody wants to know the answer of. What sex is there in Sussex?

[@danprotheroe]

mostly dogging i think.

[@ArthurHerbst]

Probably both sexes. But you can never be shure...

[@rjfaber1991]

Sussex is anal, probably. Middlesex is vaginal, Essex is a handjob with the right hand, Wessex with the left hand, and because the Anglo-Saxons didn't approve of blowjobs, there is no county called Norsex, nor has there been. Sorry, did I just overanalyse a simple joke?

[@Aserash]

Serious answer: it seems to be related to Saxon (from Anglo-Saxon), thus Sussex = South Saxon, Essex = East Saxon, Wessex = West Saxon. I'm not an expert though.

[@Pertinax193A.D.]

Aserash oh thats Lame eventhough everyone should know that,but you destroyed the joke XD

[@TracyPicabia]

Why not do a bit of research BEFORE your tour and avoid all that wrong dating and misinformation? Also, that is some really horrible, wildly lurching camerawork..... Not relevant, but you can see my house from up there !

[@lucbourhis3142]

de brrra - oh - ze

[@SarahExpereinceRequiem]

Not quite as impressive as Bamburgh castle but still...

[@elindred]

pewdiepie would disapprove of this thumbnail

[@hubert_c]

I am disappointed. I thought you were a viking :(

[@sabokizi]

FIRST

[@sexagesimalian]

Had to stop watching due to motion sickness. : (