Castle Acre Castle: A Norman Defensive Complex in Norfolk
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- English, Norman
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page16 sections
History
Castle Acre Castle is a ruined Norman defensive complex in the United Kingdom, at Castle Acre in Norfolk, established during the 1070s soon after the Norman Conquest. William de Warenne, a Norman nobleman rewarded with extensive English estates after supporting William the Conqueror, built a motte-and-bailey castle at the meeting point of the River Nar and the Peddars Way, an ancient Roman road. The castle probably occupied or stood near the former residence of Toki, an Anglo-Saxon estate holder.
From Anglo-Saxon estate to Norman lordship
Before William de Warenne acquired the manor, it was held first by Toki and then by Frederick, a Flemish lord who was William’s brother-in-law. Frederick’s death around 1070 allowed William to take control of Acre, which became part of his large regional estates. A motte-and-bailey castle combined a raised earth mound with enclosed courts protected by banks, ditches, timber defences, and later stone walls.
William also granted St Mary’s, the former parish church enclosed within the castle’s outer bailey, to the Cluniac order, a Western monastic movement associated with the Benedictine tradition and centred on the reformed abbey of Cluny. The grant included about 110 hectares of farmland. Several monks arrived from Lewes by 1088, and William’s son, the second Earl William de Warenne, probably gave them more land west of the castle around 1090. This became Castle Acre Priory, although the priory was not fully completed until the 1160s. A deer park was established nearby, with cultivated rabbit warrens around its edges. Together, the castle and priory expressed the family’s authority and prestige.
Expansion during the Anarchy
William de Warenne supported Robert Curthose, the eldest son of William the Conqueror and duke of Normandy, during Curthose’s attempted invasion of England in 1101. As a consequence, William was exiled and lost his English estates, including Castle Acre. Robert later persuaded Henry I to allow his return, and William recovered his lands in 1103.
During the Anarchy, the civil war between supporters of King Stephen and Empress Matilda over the English succession, the third Earl William de Warenne supported Stephen. Political uncertainty and pressure from the rising d’Albini and de Vere families led to a major remodelling of Castle Acre from about 1140. The earthworks were enlarged, the double hall was strengthened and began to be transformed into a tall square keep, and timber defences were replaced or reinforced with stone walls.
A planned fortified settlement was created beside the castle during this period. It remained dependent on the castle and never became a borough. Its earthworks and walls have been interpreted as resembling a vast outer bailey and as a public expression of William’s lordship. The Peddars Way was diverted around the priory, the castle fishpond, and the southern end of the walled settlement. This route brought travellers past the main symbols of de Warenne authority before they reached the town and castle entrances.
Changes under the later de Warennes
The third Earl William de Warenne died on the Second Crusade in 1148. His daughter, Isabel de Warenne, inherited the castle and estates while married to William of Blois, the son of King Stephen. After Henry II took power in 1154, he gained control of Castle Acre and arranged Isabel’s marriage to his illegitimate brother, Hamelin de Warenne, in 1164. Hamelin then acquired the castle and the other de Warenne lands.
Hamelin reduced the planned height of the keep and demolished its southern half. It is uncertain whether the reduced design was ever completed. He probably completed or built the two town gatehouses and the western gatehouse in the castle’s outer bailey. The castle and settlement remained mainly in de Warenne hands until 1347. Henry III visited at least four times, while Edward I visited five times.
In 1316, John de Warenne transferred Castle Acre to Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke and England’s ambassador to Rome. The transfer probably encouraged de Valence to seek a papal annulment of John’s marriage to Joan, the niece of Edward II. John later recovered the castle, but died in 1347 without a legitimate heir. Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, inherited the estate. By 1397 the castle’s fortifications were in ruins, although the settlement remained small and Castle Acre Priory continued to prosper.
Decline, preservation, and investigation
After the priory was closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1537, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, leased the castle ruins and the adjacent priory. The properties later passed through Thomas Gresham and Thomas Cecil, Earl of Exeter, before Sir Edward Coke purchased them in 1615. Coke repaired the castle in the early seventeenth century, partly because of his interest in history and possibly because he wished to reinforce his position within the English elite. The work cost £60.
The castle remained with the Coke family, which later held the earldom of Leicester. Its walls were gradually robbed for building stone, and the site was used for grazing animals. The closure of the priory and the abandonment of the castle also contributed to the settlement’s decline. Antiquarian interest grew from the eighteenth century, followed by archaeological investigations in the 1850s and 1930s. Major excavations took place between 1972 and 1983, concentrating on the inner bailey, under the direction of Jonathan Coad.
In 1971, Thomas Coke, fifth Earl of Leicester, placed the castle under state guardianship. The castle and Bailey Gate are now managed by English Heritage. The castle and settlement defences are protected in the United Kingdom as a scheduled monument, a legally protected archaeological or historic site, while the Bailey Gate also has Grade I listed-building protection, the highest category for a listed building in England. Historic England regards the castle’s large defensive earthworks as among the finest surviving in England.
Remains
Castle Acre’s surviving layout consists of three main earthworks: the motte and inner bailey to the north, the outer bailey to the south, and a barbican to the north-east. The medieval settlement joins the castle on its western side and has its own earthwork circuit and stone walls. The arrangement preserves the relationship between the stronghold, its entrance works, and the dependent settlement.
Outer defences and entrance works
Outer bailey
The rectangular outer bailey covers about 8,000 square metres. Earth banks enclose it, while deep ditches run along its eastern and western sides. Fragments of the twelfth-century stone walls survive. The outer bailey probably contained a hall, kitchen, accommodation, and chapel, though only traces of these buildings can be seen at the surface.
Castle entrances
The principal entrance led from the settlement through the north-west corner of the outer bailey. A stone gatehouse and portcullis, a heavy vertically sliding defensive gate, guarded the approach, but only the gatehouse foundations survive. Two further gates led north-east into the barbican and south towards the River Nar.
Barbican
The barbican protected the castle’s exposed north-eastern side. An entrance gateway and bridge controlled access to the earthwork, which also had a separate entrance on its eastern side. The fishpond formed part of the approach landscape created when the Peddars Way was redirected around the priory and castle.
Inner bailey and central buildings
Inner bailey
A bridge leads into the inner bailey. It was originally wooden, was later rebuilt in stone, and was replaced by the present steel bridge in the twentieth century. The inner bailey is a roughly circular earthwork rising up to 9.5 metres. Its summit carries the remains of a stone curtain wall, an enclosing defensive wall, and ditches around it are now about 3 metres deep. The form combines a raised motte with features of a circular ringwork.
Keep and eleventh-century house
The ruins of the twelfth-century keep and the foundations of the eleventh-century house remain within the inner bailey. The earlier building was a large, unfortified double hall constructed in stone. It functioned more like a country house than a conventional Norman keep. The keep and house foundations use chalk rubble, while much of the surrounding rampart wall is made from chalk rubble and flint.
Planned settlement
Settlement earthworks
The planned settlement measured approximately 225 by 188 metres and covered about 4.25 hectares. Its western and southern ramparts, known as Dyke Hills, remain well preserved. The surviving ditch is about 17 metres wide and 3 metres deep, while the bank rises about 3 metres.
Bailey Gate
Sections of the settlement’s stone wall survive beside the Bailey Gate and along the southern ramparts. Built of flint, the Bailey Gate was defended by two drum towers and a portcullis. It remains largely intact, although its roof has not survived.
