Castles – East
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Castles – East ‘Build Date’ refers to the oldest surviving significant elements In column 1; CM ≡ Cambridgeshire, E ≡ Essex, L ≡ Lincolnshire, NF ≡ Norfolk, SF ≡ Suffolk Build Occupation CM Castle Location Configuration Current Remains Date Status 1 Buckden Towers TL 193 677 Fortified house 15th C Occupied Tower, gatehouse, entire 2 Burwell TL 587 661 Enclosure? 1144 Empty, never completed Earthworks 3 Cambridge TL 446 593 Motte & bailey 1068 Empty, 17th C then 19th C Motte earthwork 4 Kirtling Towers TL 685 575 Fortified house 15/16th C Demolished, 1801 Gatehouse now a house 5 Longthorpe TL 163 984 Tower & hall 13th C Occupied Tower, hall entire E 1 Colchester TL 999 253 Keep & bailey c1075 Museum Keep, restored 2 Great Canfield TL 594 179 Motte & bailey 11th C Empty, wooden only Earthworks 3 Hadleigh TQ 810 861 Enclosure Early-13th C Empty, late-16th C Fragmentary ruins 4 Hedingham TL 787 358 Keep & bailey Mid-12th C Empty, 17th C Keep entire, bridge 5 Pleshey TL 665 145 Motte & bailey Late-11th C Empty, 15th C Earthworks, bridge 6 Saffron Walden TL 540 397 Motte & bailey 1140 Empty, never completed Ruined keep L 1 Bolingbroke TF 349 650 Enclosure Early-12th C Empty, 17th C Low ruins 2 Bytham SK 991 185 Enclosure + keep Early 13th C Empty, 16th C Earthworks only 3 Grimsthorpe TF 044 227 Quadrangular 14th C Occupied, remodelled One original tower 4 Hussey TF 333 436 Tower Mid-15th C Empty, sleighted 16th C Roofless but near full height 5 Lincoln SK 975 719 Enclosure + keep 11th C Occupied Older parts ruined 6 Rochfort TF 351 444 Tower c1460 Empty, early 19th C Roofless, full height 7 Sleaford TF 065 455 Enclosure c1130 Empty, 16th C Earthworks, tower fragment 8 Somerton SK 954 588 Quadrangular 1280s Occupied? but at risk One tower + ruins 9 South Kyme TF 168 496 Tower + hall Mid-14th C Empty, 18th C? Tower unroofed, moat 10 Tatershall TF 576 211 Tower Mid-15th C Occupied, restored 20th C Tower entire + moat, ruins 11 Torksey SK 836 788 Manor house c1560 Empty, 17th C West front ruin NF 1 Baconsthorpe TG 111 382 Enclosure 1450s Empty after 1920s Ruined gatehouses, etc. 2 Caister TG 504 123 Enclosure 1430s Empty, 16th C Mix of high and low ruins 3 Castle Acre TF 819 151 Motte & bailey 1080s Empty after 15th C Low ruins, earthworks 4 Castle Rising TF 666 246 Keep, ramparts 1140 Empty after 15th C Shell of keep, earthworks 5 Claxton TG 334 037 Enclosure c1350 Empty, after 16th C Ruined curtain wall, turrets 6 Mileham TF 916 193 Motte & bailey c1100 Empty after 1300 Keep fragments, earthworks 7 New Buckenham TM 072 926 Motte & bailey 1140s Empty after 17th C Keep low ruin, earthworks 8 North Elmham TF 988 217 Converted chapel Late-14th C Empty after 15th C Low ruins, earthworks 9 Norwich TG 232 085 Keep & baileys 1120s Prison, now museum Keep entire, little else 10 Oxburgh TF 743 103 Fortified house 1480s Occupied Entire but modified 11 Thetford TL 875 828 Motte & bailey 1070s Destroyed 1173 Earthworks 12 Weeting TL 777 891 Moated House c1180 Empty from late-14th C Ruins of varying height SF 1 Bungay TM 337 896 Motte & bailey Late-11th C Empty from 15th C Ruined gatehouse, keep 2 Burgh TG 475 046 Motte & bailey Late-11th C Empty Roman walls, motte traces 1 Occupation SF Castle Location Configuration Build Date Current Remains Status 3 Clare TL 771 452 Motte & bailey 1070s Empty after 16th C Fragment of keep, motte 4 Eye TM 147 737 Motte & bailey Late-1060s Empty after 1400 Bits of curtain wall, motte 5 Framlingham TM 287 637 Enclosure 1189 Poorhouse after 1700 Curtain wall almost entire 6 Little Wenham TM 082 391 Fortified house c1275 Empty after 18th C Solar block 7 Meltingham TM 360 887 Fortified house 1340s Empty after 16th C Gatehouse, curtain walls 8 Orford TM 419 498 Keep & bailey 1173 Occupied Keep almost entire 9 Wingfield TF 065 455 Enclosure 1380s Occupied Gatehouse, towers, wall Notes: 1. A total of 43 castles have been identified in the East of England, the 5 counties of Cambridgeshire, Essex, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. My selection philosophy has been to include the great majority of those I have already visited and such others as I think interesting; I have tended to exclude those which have benefitted from a modern reconstruction which could be described as a rebuild. Survival of masonry in coherent form is usually a prerequisite. There are remains of many more castles in the counties concerned, which I do not consider because they depart from these criteria. So, my gazetteer is best regarded as a sample, albeit quite a large one, and the tentative conclusions I draw need to be seen in that light. 2. To-date, I have visited 41 of the 43 castles on my list. 3. There are 16 motte and bailey types, all built by the mid-12th century, there are 11 enclosure castles in which the castle buildings are part of the outer defences, usually but not exclusively built after the late-12th century. There are 5 fortified houses, and 5 towers which may be adjacent to other buildings but are not heavily protected by enclosure walls. 4. Castle building took place during the 11th to the 15th centuries, but many were built shortly after the Norman Conquest. Things calmed down early in East Anglia, and strongholds were only deemed necessary by the most powerful magnates. 5. The desertion and decay of castles began early, though sometimes it was because the castle had been wrecked by royal edict after a rebellion; in general the movement in pursuit of more comfortable living arrangements was well underway by the 16th century, though some castles were reprieved on conversion to other purposes, as prisons for example. The Civil War was not a major factor in this region, though a few castles which had survived were sleighted. 11 castles are still occupied, but some of the most prominent like Colchester and Norwich, are museums rather than residences. 2 CM1. Buckden Towers formerly known as Buckden Palace was a fortified house owned by the Bishops of Lincoln, in a village of that name, 8km south-west of Huntingdon. There was a mansion occupying the area indicated for the hall and great chamber from the early-13th century. The surviving buildings, as indicated in black on the schematic were built towards the end of the 15th century, and comprise a tower of dimensions, 15 X 7.5m, with octagonal corner turrets, a length of curtain wall, and an embattled gatehouse facing west, all built in brick; the site was moated. There was also a rebuilt house with great hall and private chambers, but only footings survive. Catherine of Aragon was sequestered here for a period in 1533, after the annulment of her marriage to King Henry VIII. Although the site was not well defended, steps were taken to render it unprotected in the 1630s, far-sighted perhaps with Civil War looming, but the buildings inside still suffered damage in the period. It was patched up, but a new house was built in 1872, at the location shown. It is now used by an order called the Claretians. The photograph is taken from gardens to the north, and shows the top of the gatehouse on the left, and the great tower on the right. 3 CM2. Burwell Castle is on the south side of a small town of that name which is 6km north-west of Newmarket. It was conceived by King Stephen during the Anarchy, along with other similar castles as a means of confining Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex who had turned against the King and was carrying out raids from a base at Ely. In 1144, de Mandeville attacked the partly built castle but was killed in the attempt, which had the effect of ending his campaign. With its purpose achieved, there was no incentive to finish the castle, so the rather overgrown earthworks, together with footings of a curtain wall and gatehouse, now below ground, are the sole remains. It is thought that the site was reoccupied in the 14th century when its owner, the Abbot of Ramsay, had a grange built there. As is often the case with such sites, it is difficult to see the whole picture on the ground, which is of a near-rectangular platform of dimensions 95 X 50m, raised above a ditch once fed with water from a nearby stream, but now dry, as shown in the photograph of the south-east reach. 4 CM3. Cambridge Castle is north-west of the centre of the city, near the left bank of the River Cam. It was a motte and bailey founded shortly after the Norman Conquest in 1068. It can be assumed that it had masonry elements by the end of the next century, and King Edward I strengthened it greatly at the end of the 13th century, in particular erecting a round keep on the motte, and curtain walls, flanking towers, a twin-towered gatehouse, and moats as protection. However decay set in soon afterwards, and by the late 16th century it was a ruin. The bailey was refurbished as a fort in the early years of the Civil War, but the new defences were short-lived, although a barracks built then together with the medieval gatehouse survived as gaols, until the 19th century. Now all that remains is the motte, probably somewhat diminished, shown in the photograph.