DOCSLIB.ORG

OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS Within British Castellology, One Of

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS Within British Castellology, One Of CG21 bis:CG21 bis 18/06/08 12:02 Page 25 O.H. CREIGHTON ‘THE RICH MAN IN HIS CASTLE, THE POOR MAN AT HIS GATE’ 1 : CASTLE BAILEYS AND SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN NORMAN ENGLAND F RECENT DEVELOPMENTS within British castellology, one of the most important factor of all in the nucleation of rural the more significant has been an upsurge in interest in communities in medieval Europe 3. In parts of continental O the wider settings of castles and their place within the Europe, especially the Mediterranean zone, medieval castles medieval landscape. Particularly striking has been an increas - have long been viewed as catalytic features in rural landscapes. ing realisation that the immediate environs of many later The incastellamento phenomenon – the nestling of enclosed medieval castles were composed to produce ornamental rural communities around seigneurial sites on prominent topo - settings, while through survey and fieldwork, archaeological graphical positions, so characteristic of parts of Italy in the research projects have progressively broadened their horizons ninth and tenth centuries – is only part of a wider phenomenon to examine interrelationships between fortifications and their whereby castles acted as nuclei for rural settlement growth 4. But hinterlands 2. This paper focuses on an important yet often in England, the place of castles within the medieval settlement neglected aspect of the castle’s interrelationship with its pattern has frequently been overlooked, and their contribution surroundings – its impact on patterns of human settlement, in to its evolution somewhat under-estimated. the context of eleventh- and twelfth-century England. Using a In the English countryside most private castles were simul - combination of archaeological, documentary and landscape taneously manorial centres, with appurtenances of lordship evidence, particular attention will be given to the significance such as fishponds or watermills not unusually linked to the of castle baileys and outer baileys as topographical factors in the defences of baileys and outworks, or else found in immediate growth, reorganisation and planning of settlements. Such association. A further indication of the close connection evidence has, in turn, great significance for our understanding between castles and the rural economy is their context within of far wider issues of interest, including social and economic the rural settlement pattern, and in particular, their importance relationships between lords and communities, and definitions as elements of village topography. Sites of lordship frequently of communal and private defence in town and country. structured the topographical characteristics of rural settlements, In their seminal work The Village and House in the Middle with baileys or precincts often providing a ‘morphological Ages (first published 1980), Jean Chapelot and Robert Fossier frame’ for the settlement and the high-status core constituting viewed the castle as a ‘mother economic cell’ – ‘indubitably’ a ‘plan dominant’ and frequently a focal point for growth 5. The planning or re-casting of villages by castle lords is but 1. C. F. Alexander, from the third verse of the popular hymn ‘All Things one manifestation of a wider phenomenon of seigneurial inter - Bright and Beautiful’ (1848). The verse (usually omitted in modern versions) vention in medieval settlement change. A particularly clear ends ‘God made them, high or lowly, and ordered their estate’. 2. For examples of recent studies of the landscape settings of individual castles see EVERSON et al. , 2000; HIGHAM & BARKER , 2000; DARLINGTON , 3. CHAPELOT & FOSSIER , 1985, 129-33. 2001. For synthesis see CREIGHTON , 2002; JOHNSON , 2002, ch. 2; 4. W ICKHAM , 1981, 162-3, 173-4; CHRISTIE , 1999, 45. CREIGHTON & HIGHAM , 2003, ch. 6. 5. R OBERTS , 1987, 73-5. Château Gaillard 21 , p. 25-36, Publications du C RAHM , 2004 CG21 bis:CG21 bis 18/06/08 12:02 Page 26 26 O.H. C REIGHTON example of a settlement bearing the hallmarks of lordly plan - LAXTON, NOTTS. ning in association with a castle focus is the Nottinghamshire village of Laxton, one of the most celebrated of all English Fishponds Castle medieval villages on account of its substantially surviving open field system 6. Far from being the ‘typical’ Midland village sometimes assumed, detailed scrutiny of Laxton’s morphology as reflected in a remarkable estate map of 1635 indicates that the settlement was planned or re-planned with a large Norman motte and bailey castle as its focus (Fig. 1), most likely when the castle emerged as an important estate centre of the de Caux family in the twelfth century 7. Particu - larly striking is the formalised relationship between the castle site and principal east-west street, with a series of regular plots bounded by a former back lane. Reinforced by a substan - tial linear bank, this feature formed a ‘seam’ in the settlement plan, demarcating the boundary between the lord’s demesne (containing a seigneurial park, fishponds, rabbit warren, stable one facilities and possible jousting paddock) and the village. hectare 0 250m Notably, the outer bailey also extended up to this boundary, which clearly exerted a profound topographical influence on settlement form and development. Fig. 1 : Plan of Laxton (Nottinghamshire), based on Ordnance A number of archaeological excavations and related surveys Survey First Edition (1887), showing the relationship between the have also provided compelling evidence for the planning of motte and bailey castle a village plan with clear planned elements. rural settlements relative to castle foci in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. In the Oxfordshire parish of Middleton uncertain, however, as do the seigneurial motives, although Stoney, a long-term programme of excavation and fieldwork tightening social control and economic rationalisation would established that a small castle of the de Camville family was a seem to be important factors. To these three examples can be relatively impermanent feature of village topography, being added many others, including several in Yorkshire, where estate built in the mid twelfth century but dismantled on the orders of -reorganisation and planning of castles and associated villages King John in 1216 8. Yet during this brief period of high-status by Norman landlords in the wake of economic dislocation in the occupancy, the local settlement pattern was radically re-oriented eleventh and early twelfth centuries seems to have been partic - following the grant of a market, a deer park created, the road ularly commonplace. Likely candidates include Bowes and system re-planned, and a new parish church built in close asso - Bishopton (County Durham), Cropton, Kirkby Malzeard and ciation with the seat of lordship. Clearly there is no simple Sheriff Hutton (North Yorkshire), and Barwick-in-Elmet (West correspondence between the longevity or status of a castle site Yorkshire) 11 . We must not overlook, however, that beyond the and the level of the seigneurial impact on landscape reorgani - central belt of village England, in areas where the medieval sation. countryside contained fewer nucleations and a more kaleido - In the Lincolnshire claylands, the ‘classic’ deserted village scopic blend of smaller hamlets and farmsteads (as in the south- of ‘Goltho’ partially excavated, along with an associated mano - west peninsula) that most Norman castles still functioned as rial site and castle, in the late 1960s and early 1970s appears to manorial centres within a settlement pattern where lordship have been another settlement whose plan bears the hallmarks was not expressed in the planning of villages 12 . of seigneurial intervention 9. Here, a large and regular row- While disruption of property due to the construction of based unit of plots appears to have been grafted onto an earlier castles appears to have been a characteristic feature of Norman village core containing the castle and adjacent church, proba - urban castle-building (see below), rather less frequently does bly early in the twelfth century when the manor was consoli - evidence emerge for the imposition of Norman castles and their dated by the de Kyme family, whose presence within the parish baileys over villages. The limited evidence available suggests was also signified by the upgrading of the castle and establish - that where Norman castle-builders superimposed on extant ment of a deer park and new Gilbertine priory 10 . The precise rural communities this was generally in the face of extreme chronologies for such policies of settlement re-planning remain military necessity. The unusual unfinished castle of Burwell (Cambridgeshire), was one of a chain of fen-edge sites rapidly erected in a brief royal campaign of the 1140s. These circum - 6. ORWIN & ORWIN , 1967. stances, of pragmatic response to short-term military circum - 7. C AMERON , 1980, 220-4. 8. R AHTZ & ROWLEY , 1984. 9. B ERESFORD , 1975; 1987. 11. CREIGHTON , 1999; 2002, 202-6. 10. E VERSON , 1988; CREIGHTON , 2002, 21-7. 12. H IGHAM , 1982, 106. Château Gaillard 21 , p. 25-36, Publications du CRAHM , 2004 CG21 bis:CG21 bis 18/06/08 12:02 Page 27 ‘The Rich Man in his Castle, The Poor Man at His Gate’ 27 stances, seem to explain why a site was chosen that entailed the many other of the numerous eleventh- and twelfth-century clearance of part of a village, as with the nearby and contem - mottes and ringworks located within iron-age hillforts, includ - porary site of Rampton 13 . The clearest archaeological evidence ing sites such as Hembury and Loddiswell (Devon), Mount of village disruption is at Eaton Socon (Cambridgeshire). Here, Caburn, Glynde (East Sussex) and Barwick-in-Elmet (West construction or expansion of the site’s bailey defences buried Yorkshire), were associated with enclosed settlements that have a church, cemetery and part of an extensive settlement subse - left no tangible traces. quently transplanted to a fresh site; again a military Anarchy- While it is customary to describe sites such as these as period context seems likely, with the site occupying a ‘deserted’ settlements, this terminology obscures the fact that strategically important crossing of the Ouse 14 .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Gloucestershire Castles
    Gloucestershire Archives Take One Castle Gloucestershire Castles The first castles in Gloucestershire were built soon after the Norman invasion of 1066. After the Battle of Hastings, the Normans had an urgent need to consolidate the land they had conquered and at the same time provide a secure political and military base to control the country. Castles were an ideal way to do this as not only did they secure newly won lands in military terms (acting as bases for troops and supply bases), they also served as a visible reminder to the local population of the ever-present power and threat of force of their new overlords. Early castles were usually one of three types; a ringwork, a motte or a motte & bailey; A Ringwork was a simple oval or circular earthwork formed of a ditch and bank. A motte was an artificially raised earthwork (made by piling up turf and soil) with a flat top on which was built a wooden tower or ‘keep’ and a protective palisade. A motte & bailey was a combination of a motte with a bailey or walled enclosure that usually but not always enclosed the motte. The keep was the strongest and securest part of a castle and was usually the main place of residence of the lord of the castle, although this changed over time. The name has a complex origin and stems from the Middle English term ‘kype’, meaning basket or cask, after the structure of the early keeps (which resembled tubes). The name ‘keep’ was only used from the 1500s onwards and the contemporary medieval term was ‘donjon’ (an apparent French corruption of the Latin dominarium) although turris, turris castri or magna turris (tower, castle tower and great tower respectively) were also used.
    [Show full text]
  • An Excavation in the Inner Bailey of Shrewsbury Castle
    An excavation in the inner bailey of Shrewsbury Castle Nigel Baker January 2020 An excavation in the inner bailey of Shrewsbury Castle Nigel Baker BA PhD FSA MCIfA January 2020 A report to the Castle Studies Trust 1. Shrewsbury Castle: the inner bailey excavation in progress, July 2019. North to top. (Shropshire Council) Summary In May and July 2019 a two-phase archaeological investigation of the inner bailey of Shrewsbury Castle took place, supported by a grant from the Castle Studies Trust. A geophysical survey by Tiger Geo used resistivity and ground-penetrating radar to identify a hard surface under the north-west side of the inner bailey lawn and a number of features under the western rampart. A trench excavated across the lawn showed that the hard material was the flattened top of natural glacial deposits, the site having been levelled in the post-medieval period, possibly by Telford in the 1790s. The natural gravel was found to have been cut by a twelve-metre wide ditch around the base of the motte, together with pits and garden features. One pit was of late pre-Conquest date. 1 Introduction Shrewsbury Castle is situated on the isthmus, the neck, of the great loop of the river Severn containing the pre-Conquest borough of Shrewsbury, a situation akin to that of the castles at Durham and Bristol. It was in existence within three years of the Battle of Hastings and in 1069 withstood a siege mounted by local rebels against Norman rule under Edric ‘the Wild’ (Sylvaticus). It is one of the best-preserved Conquest-period shire-town earthwork castles in England, but is also one of the least well known, no excavation having previously taken place within the perimeter of the inner bailey.
    [Show full text]
  • Military Stress, Central Power and Local Response in the County of Castile in the Tenth Century’, in Landscapes of Defence in Early Medieval Europe, Ed
    This text is a pre-print. Paging and layout may differ from the final published version. For the purpose of citation, please use the publisher’s version: Escalona, Julio, ‘Military stress, central power and local response in the county of Castile in the tenth century’, in Landscapes of Defence in Early Medieval Europe, ed. by John Baker, Stuart Brookes and Andrew Reynolds (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013), pp. 341-67 MILITARY STRESS, CENTRAL POWER AND LOCAL RESPONSE IN THE COUNTY OF CASTILE IN THE TENTH CENTURY Julio Escalona1 This chapter aims to explore the role of fortifications in the southern fringes of the county of Castile bordering the river Duero, a region well known for its intense military activity during the tenth-century. The region and period provide an excellent case study to address some of the issues addressed by other chapters in this volume, including the construction and function of defence systems, the role of central power therein, or the impact on, and response of local society to those developments. The Duero border is particularly interesting because of the suddenness of the processes that turned a distant, much fragmented periphery into a major military frontier of the Asturian kingdom against the Caliphate of Córdoba. In the following, I will argue that tenth-century fortifications in this region are the result of a variety of inputs, some of which derive from centralised operations, while others respond to local initiatives, in a context of intense social change, largely triggered by military stress and incorporation into a larger-scale, more complex political system. The Duero Basin in the Early Middle Ages: From Post-Roman Fragmentation to the Asturian Expansion The ending of the effective control exercised by the Roman state in the north-western quadrant of Iberia was abrupt.
    [Show full text]
  • April 2016 Welcome to April News
    April 2016 Welcome to April news Nottingham Castle Transformation newsletter Here’s what the project team has been up to in the past month: Chat'bout visit - This month the Project Team was excited to host a visit from Nottingham youth group Chat’bout. We were keen to pick their brains regarding potential activities for young people at the Castle, and get their opinion on some of our ideas for the transformation project. Following a tour of the site, a workshop was held resulting in some great ideas for events and activities at the Castle, many of which will help to shape our activity plan which will be completed in the next few weeks. Games development workshop - Members of the project content team thoroughly enjoyed a workshop, hosted by Preloaded Games Studio. This was an opportunity to be as creative as possible, as ideas were brainstormed for the creation of a Robin Hood themed interactive game to feature in the new Robin Hood Gallery. Over the next few months these ideas will be honed down to form a brief for the commissioning of this exciting element of one of our new galleries. Project in the media - With the release of visuals for both the Visitor Centre and the gallery design this month, came considerable interest from local media. The project team hosted two days of press tours at the Castle, which gave us a fantastic opportunity to promote the transformation project and explain all of the proposed changes in detail. We were delighted with the level of interest and extremely positive responses which we received.
    [Show full text]
  • Glossaryglossary
    GLOSSARYGLOSSARY Abbot – a man who is the head of an Dissolution of the Monasteries – Henry abbey of monks and has authority over VIII suppressed Catholic monasteries a prior in England, between 1536 and 1541, by repurposing or destroying Arcade – a row of arches that their resources are supported by columns, either freestanding or attached to a wall to Domesday survey – a record which form a gallery listed the extent, value and ownership of land in England, made in 1086 by order Baron – a land-holding nobleman of William I who was granted land by the king for honourable service Façade – the main front of a building Chief minister – the highest ranking Inner bailey – the strongly fortified official beneath the king, who is not in enclosure at the centre of a castle, often the royal family surrounded by a stone curtain wall Clergy – the community of people Keep – the central tower of a castle, working for the church, ordained for often used as a final refuge during religious duties, including the prior a siege and monks Latrine – a simple toilet, built over a Cloister – a covered square-shaped hole in the ground or stream walk in a convent, monastery, college, Layman – a non-ordained member of or cathedral a Church Cluniac – a Benedictine monastic Mason – a person skilled in carving and tradition founded at Cluny in eastern laying stone for buildings France in 910 Mass – the act of gathering to take Holy Consecrate – the solemn act of Communion, especially in the Roman dedicating a building or object to a Catholic Church special purpose,
    [Show full text]
  • The Medieval English Borough
    THE MEDIEVAL ENGLISH BOROUGH STUDIES ON ITS ORIGINS AND CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY BY JAMES TAIT, D.LITT., LITT.D., F.B.A. Honorary Professor of the University MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS 0 1936 MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS Published by the University of Manchester at THEUNIVERSITY PRESS 3 16-324 Oxford Road, Manchester 13 PREFACE its sub-title indicates, this book makes no claim to be the long overdue history of the English borough in the Middle Ages. Just over a hundred years ago Mr. Serjeant Mere- wether and Mr. Stephens had The History of the Boroughs Municipal Corporations of the United Kingdom, in three volumes, ready to celebrate the sweeping away of the medieval system by the Municipal Corporation Act of 1835. It was hardly to be expected, however, that this feat of bookmaking, good as it was for its time, would prove definitive. It may seem more surprising that the centenary of that great change finds the gap still unfilled. For half a century Merewether and Stephens' work, sharing, as it did, the current exaggera- tion of early "democracy" in England, stood in the way. Such revision as was attempted followed a false trail and it was not until, in the last decade or so of the century, the researches of Gross, Maitland, Mary Bateson and others threw a fiood of new light upon early urban development in this country, that a fair prospect of a more adequate history of the English borough came in sight. Unfortunately, these hopes were indefinitely deferred by the early death of nearly all the leaders in these investigations.
    [Show full text]
  • PROVINCIAL HANDBOOK Provincia America Transappalachiana (ATA)
    PROVINCIAL HANDBOOK Provincia America Transappalachiana (ATA) Version 2767.2 (Ianuarius 2767 a.U.c./2013 CE) Copyright© 2013-2014. All Rights Reserved. Lucius Vitellius Triarius, Vitellian Press, USA. Reproduction, modification, and distribution rights are granted to members of Nova Roma for use in promoting local and face-to-face group organizing, events, activities and planning functions for use within Nova Roma. For more information, see: www.novaroma.org I. About the Province The Provincia America Transappalachiana was organized and created by order of the Senate of Nova Roma on a.d. IX Kal. Nov. 2766 a.u.c. (Oct. 24, 2013) and is one of the numerous Provinciae of Nova Roma, each of which has its own governor and organizes its own events and activities. Nova Roma has much to offer to all those interested in the many facets of Ancient Rome. We have many associations known as Sodalitates which are dedicated to studying a wide range of topics, including but not limited to the Roman military, the Latin Language, and various cultural arts. Provinces hold events to promote membership and encourage participation. Nova Roma is diverse enough to accommodate almost any field of interest in Ancient Rome, including the Religio Romana. This is what we want to bring to the local level within Nova Roma and within our Provincia. For administrative purposes, the Provincia is divided into two (2) territories, corresponding to modern political districts, each of which is assigned a Tribune (State Coordinator) appointed by the Governor, who deals with the day-to-day running of his or her Territorio.
    [Show full text]
  • Chepstow Castle
    Great Archaeological Sites in Monmouthshire 5. CHEPSTOW CASTLE High on the cliff above the River Wye is Chepstow castle (ST 5333 9411) founded, as Domesday Book tells us, by one of William the Conqueror’s closest friends, William fitz Osbern Earl of Hereford. The splendid Norman keep, known as the Great Tower, is the earliest surviving stone building in South Wales, and may have been commissioned by the Conqueror himself. Decorative bands of Roman tile built into the walls show that at least some of the materials used into its construction were scavenged from centuries-old Roman buildings somewhere in the neighbourhood, perhaps from Caerwent. We do not know any more about the ground plan of the Norman castle. It will have had at least one bailey, but the fortifications of the middle and upper baileys which now stand on either side of the Great Tower were built by William Marshal Earl of Pembroke, the greatest military man in England at the end of the 12th century, after he received Chepstow as part of his wife’s inheritance. He also built the outer bailey. In the outer bailey wall is the main gate-house. It was given state-of-the art round towers, and there were two more built into the middle bailey wall. The original doors of the main gatehouse – the oldest doors in Europe – still survive, although they have been moved to where they can be better protected. The upper bailey at the rear of the castle only had a small postern gate, and it was the marshal’s sons who strengthened the defences on this side in the first half of the 13th century by building a barbican.
    [Show full text]
  • At Least 59 Ancient Place Names Have Survived Containing an Element Dunum, Which Meant Something Like 'Fort' Or 'Walled To
    Dunum At least 59 ancient place names have survived containing an element dunum, which meant something like ‘fort’ or ‘walled town’. Tables at the end of this article list 18 places from Britain and 41 from elsewhere across Europe whose early names contained dunum (or similar). But where did dunum come from, and how did it evolve after Roman times? An ancient Celtic word *dūnon can be reconstructed from Irish dún ‘fortress’ and Welsh dinas ‘fortress, town, city’, plus numerous modern place names from Dundee to Dinorwig. Latin texts started mentioning place names containing dunum after Caesar marched into Gaul. To understand these two pieces of history (and not jump to false conclusions about the prevalence of Celtic speech across ancient Europe) we need to look at the wider picture. Dunum was part of the “extended Latin” vocabulary used to create early place names across the Roman Empire. This is proved by names such as Caesarodunum and Augustodunum, plus the wide distribution of –dunum names across Europe. Yet dunum does not appear in standard Latin dictionaries. Many other languages show a similar situation, where words that manifestly helped to build place names do not appear in dictionaries built from texts. The Germanic languages have two types of word apparently related to dunum. The English words down and dune, plus –don in place names, meant ‘hill’, with an obvious Continental cognate in the name Dunkirk. The English word town, plus –ton in place names, originally meant ‘enclosure’, judging by cognates such as Dutch tuin ‘garden’ and German Zaun ‘fence’, but that may be a bit of a red herring since these words may have developed from a root unlike dunum and only converged with it later.
    [Show full text]
  • A Viking-Age Settlement in the Hinterland of Hedeby Tobias Schade
    L. Holmquist, S. Kalmring & C. Hedenstierna-Jonson (eds.), New Aspects on Viking-age Urbanism, c. 750-1100 AD. Proceedings of the International Symposium at the Swedish History Museum, April 17-20th 2013. Theses and Papers in Archaeology B THESES AND PAPERS IN ARCHAEOLOGY B New Aspects on Viking-age Urbanism, c. 750-1100 AD. Proceedings of the International Symposium at the Swedish History Museum, April 17–20th 2013 Lena Holmquist, Sven Kalmring & Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson (eds.) Contents Introduction Sigtuna: royal site and Christian town and the Lena Holmquist, Sven Kalmring & regional perspective, c. 980-1100 Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson.....................................4 Sten Tesch................................................................107 Sigtuna and excavations at the Urmakaren Early northern towns as special economic and Trädgårdsmästaren sites zones Jonas Ros.................................................................133 Sven Kalmring............................................................7 No Kingdom without a town. Anund Olofs- Spaces and places of the urban settlement of son’s policy for national independence and its Birka materiality Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson...................................16 Rune Edberg............................................................145 Birka’s defence works and harbour - linking The Schleswig waterfront - a place of major one recently ended and one newly begun significance for the emergence of the town? research project Felix Rösch..........................................................153
    [Show full text]
  • Castra, Castrum, Castellum
    Theses of doctoral (Ph. D.) dissertation Balázs Vajner Castra, castrum, castellum Statistics and interpretation consultant: Dr. PÉTER KOVÁCS Pázmány Péter Catholic University Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences PhD School for Linguistics Workshop of Classical Philology Budapest 2015 1 Previous research and problems The ancient terminology of settlement and fortification types is a problematic question. Ancient sources are inconsistent, and whilst modern disciplines like archaeology have their own terminological conventions, these are not necessarily reflecting the way these words where used in antiquity. Furthermore, a significant number of commonly used dictionaries (and occasionally even encyclopaedic works) provide an incomplete or even misleading picture. One of the reasons could be that many of them are largely based on the vocabulary of classical literature – non-literary sources and ancient technical literature are often ignored, or not used to their full potential. Thus, the core idea behind my approach was to find a way to better understand how these words were used in antiquity, both in military and civilian contexts (the latter one is especially important in the case of castellum). From the vast vocabulary of roman military fortifications, the three words: castra, castrum and castellum were selected as target words for several reasons: they are the most fundamental words in the nomenclature of military installations and fortifications; other, more specific terms were often defined in relationship to these words. due to their prevalence, there is a large amount of source material (both literary and non- literary) that can be statistically analysed. the findings of this thesis can be put in broader context by analysing other words using similar or improved methodology, as well as analysing sources that are not discussed in this thesis in detail (e.
    [Show full text]
  • Castle Acre Village Walk for Schools (KS2-KS3).Pdf
    Castle car park 6. Explore the Outer Bailey. Guide for ScHool Walkers Pye’s Lane Pye’s There were stables, storehouses, • This route to the Castle from the Priory is a gentle Step into the stories of kitchens and living quarters here. 15-minute stroll through Castle Acre village, taking in the sights along the way. Look for the impressions in the • Watch out for traffic when walking along the lanes. Castle Acre ground where the buildings medieval Castle once stood. • Access to the Castle is along a rough track and How long grass paths, unsuitable for wheelchairs. would it take a soldier on Explore the Bailey Gate and Castle with care as guard duty to patrol • historic sites can be dangerous. There are slip and Castle Acre around the bailey? trip hazards, as well as some steep slopes and stairs at the Castle. lmost 1,000 years ago, a knight 5. Find the remains of the • Students should be supervised at all times. called William de Warenne Castle keep. The built a castle here. William’s Warenne family lived in this A Pedestrian entrance son founded the Priory nearby and building and transformed it to Castle Bailey Street later his grandson replanned the into a massive stone fortress. village, surrounding Castle Acre with Imagine how impressive the castle would have huge stone and earth defences. 7. Examine the wall of a House on Bailey looked in medieval times. Earthworks Street. Can you spot any carved stones from Pale’s Green the Priory that have been reused in this building? Bailey Gate 4.
    [Show full text]