Arundel

Arundel enters the novel as a place of ecclesiastical research rather than as the setting for a major dramatic scene. Gerry Fenn visits its cathedral while tracing the history of St. Joseph’s Church in Banfield; the visit helps redirect his investigation toward the records and locations that lead him to Thomas Woolgar’s hidden chronicle.

A Stop in Fenn’s Investigation

After leaving Monsignor Delgard, Fenn goes to the cathedral at Arundel hoping to find further documents concerning St. Joseph’s Church. The search does not end there: information he receives points him toward St. Peter’s Church at Stapley and Stapley Manor, where he believes the old church chest he seeks may be kept. A warden at Arundel prompts Fenn to recall connections already present in his research, helping him recognize the significance of the Stapley sites.

The Historical Trail Beyond Arundel

Arundel’s role is as a starting point for a wider documentary trail, not as the source of every detail Fenn subsequently learns. His later conversation with Father Conroy supplies further information: St. Peter’s stands on an estate once owned by the Catholic Church, and the chest was reportedly moved there from Banfield in acknowledgment of a stained-glass window donated to St. Joseph’s Church by Sir John Woolgar. Fenn’s research also places the transfer against the upheavals of the English Reformation and the Dissolution of the Monasteries: in 1540 Henry VIII granted Stapley Manor and its estate to Richard Staffon, after which the property passed to Sir John Woolgar. These details make the cathedral visit a hinge between Fenn’s scattered archival findings and his journey to the church where he can pursue the chest directly.

Ecclesiastical Association and Narrative Function

Arundel is also associated with Bishop Caines, identified during the later Banfield procession as the Bishop of Arundel. In that scene he leads the religious procession toward the field, linking the place-name to the Church’s public presence at the pilgrimage gathering. The novel’s more substantial use of Arundel, however, is investigative: the cathedral provides a point of orientation in a search that moves from contemporary inquiry into the buried history of Banfield and the Woolgar family.