Summary
Excavations in the 1970s and 1980s along with a study of documents have enabled a reconstruction of the history of the site. The area was used for agriculture in the Roman period, but by the Late Saxon/early medieval period there is evidence for buildings. These may have been part of a manorial complex, or an expansion of the village. A chapel of ease was built around 1100 and was later incorporated into the castle's earthworks in 1138. The castle was built in one stage when William d’ Albini constructed the central ringwork, outer earthworks and the keep. The castle remained unfinished and uninhabited until the first decades of the 13th century when the earthworks were heightened by up to 5m. In the 14th century Queen Isabella, the widow of Edward II, lived in a private suite to the south of the keep. Later the castle gradually fell into disrepair and parts of it were demolished in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the 19th century the first attempts at repair and ground clearance were undertaken. The castle is open to the public.
Images
| Grid Reference: | TF 6660 2457 |
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| Map Sheet: | TF62SE |
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| Parish: | CASTLE RISING, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK |
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Monument Types
Associated Finds
| Protected Status: | Scheduled Monument; Listed Building; Scheduled Monument |
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Full description
Castle Rising Castle.
Castle, about 1138 with later additions, incorporating 11th century church (later reidentified as 12th century).
1828.
Well cleared out. 'In clearing the large room in which is a well, in the well was found lamps, stone balls about an inch in diameter which were used for shooting, a very early reckoning penny or counter with other relics'.
See (S1).
1970 to 1976.
Excavation of castle and church, also underlying Roman and Late Saxon ditches. Site was originally common land. Reused Roman brick in church. Thetford ware found at these levels but not early medieval. Ditches, postholes and hearths were cut by the keep foundations. South gable wall of substantial timber building found running north under the keep but no dating evidence. The 'chapel' in the bailey is a chapel of ease, of around 1150 and its bell pit was found; disused when castle built and became secular. A possible Saxon bow sided hall and two wooden walled features predate the chapel. The 'Roman' rectangular earthwork around the central bailey was shown to be contemporary with the castle and postdate the chapel. The castle keep was not completed until the 13th century. Ground inside keep made up with gravel to form floor, but this removed in the 17th century. The earliest ancillary buildings were 14th century with a chapel ?built for Queen Isabella which stood until the 18th century. A curtain wall with towers stood on the central bailey bank 14th to 18th century. The garderobes had no drainage and therefore raised walkways had to be provided in the bailey! A large brick kitchen with three phases of outbuildings stood south of the keep. Possibility of a 14th century great hall between these and the keep could not be verified.
See (S2).
1978.
Guidebook revised. The keep and gatehouse date from around 1138 and were repaired and altered around 1300. Some 18th to 19th century alterations.
See (S3).
1979. Visit.
Two huge erratics stand in inner bailey, one used as a quoin of a service building. In keep original entrance, large number of Bawsey tiles excavated at NHER 1075 were set here in the 1840s.
E. Rose (NAU), 20 September 1979.
1983.
R. Rickett (NAU) notes selection of tiles from Castle Rising in Peterborough Museum basement. Are these more of the Bawsey tiles such as the ones now in the doorway or from the castle itself?
E. Rose (NAU), 1 September 1983.
June 1987.
Excavation for ticket office, 1st June to 19th June, excavated two trenches within the rectangular outwork to the east of the great oval ringwork surrounding the keep. To the west of the access path a soakaway trench recovered little pottery and no archaeological features. To the east of the access path a larger trench buried soil up to 33cm thick contained 12th century pottery. The edge of a substantial feature was recorded at the southern edge of the excavation, but this produced no finds and had been filled with two dumps of redeposited material. Above the redeposited layers modern pipe trenches and postholes were found. The dumps encountered in this excavation are likely to be part of the same remodelling of the defences in the late 12th century that was recorded in the 1970s excavations.
See (S2) and (S4).
April 1988.
(S5) mentions 'paving tiles from Castle Rising'. Are these in fact more tiles from Bawsey?
Information from J. J. Wymer (NAU).
1994.
Scheduled area adjusted.
June 1999. Earthwork survey.
Survey at 1:1250 amends that in (S2). Main additional features include sections of curtain wall on central earthwork bank and minor feature in northwest and some possible sub division in eastern enclosure. Scarp to east of building may be partly the result of building work for new or earlier works hut.
See (S6) and (S7).
B. Cushion (NLA), 6 July 1999.
(S8) notes that contrary to most modern accounts, Queen Isabella did not live at Rising until her death, but in the final years of her reign lived at Hertford Castle, hence the lack of finds from that period at Rising.
E. Rose (NLA), 1 April 2006.
The Commission at the time of the French invasion of 1386 examined Castle Rising and it may be no coincidence that two early cannons of the 14th century from the castle are now in the Tower of London (S9).
Rose, E. (NLA), 19 March 2007.
Sources and further reading
| --- | Secondary File: |
| --- | Slide: Slide. |
| --- | Fiche: Exists. |
| --- | Photograph: BVG 2-3, ETA-ETZ, W 1-36, EUA-B, GYG. |
| --- | Aerial Photograph: TF6624 A-ACG,ACK-ACV. |
| --- | Aerial Photograph: Edwards, D.A. (NLA). 1998. TF 6624ACW - ADD. |
| --- | Bibliographic reference: Liddiard, R.. 2000. Landcapes of Lordship. pp 45-46 |
| --- | Verbal communication: Whyte, N.. 2007. Lecture at UEA. February 24. |
| S1 | Bibliographic reference: 1842. Collectanta Norfolciensis. |
| S2 | Bibliographic reference: Gurney, D. and Morley, B.. 1997. Castle Rising Castle IN East Anglian Archaeology. vol 81. Vol.81. |
| S3 | Bibliographic reference: Brown, R.A.. 1978. Castle Rising Castle, Official Guide. |
| S4 | Unpublished document: Gurney, D.. 1987. Castle Rising Castle, Norfolk. Excavation on the Site of the New Ticket Office, 1987.. 3rd July. |
| S5 | Bibliographic reference: 1847. Society of Antiquaries Catalogue of Antiquities. p.20. |
| S6 | Bibliographic reference: Cushion, B. and Davison, A.. 2003. Earthworks of Norfolk IN East Anglian Archaeology 104. vol. 104. p 166 |
| S7 | Graphic material: Cushion, B.. Earthwork survey. |
| S8 | Verbal communication: Woolgar, C.. 2006. Lecture at Cambridge. March. |
| S9 | Verbal communication: Alban, J.. 2007. Lecture at UEA. March 15. |
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