Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

The castle was built on the site of an existing castle by Sir John Falstoph between AD 1432 and 1443 with finishing touches being added in 1468 when in possession of Sir John Paston. The castle is unusually well documented with the building accounts from 1432-5 surviving. Parts of the north wall and the solar tower survive to full height and emerge directly from the moat. The solar tower is unusual at that time as it is built almost entirely from brick. The solar tower is 96ft high and is attached to the end of the former hall of which the gable-end survives. In the lower part of the solar tower are some early gun ports.
See (S1).
S. Howard (NLA), 15 June 2010.

The hall rebuilt mostly in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is possibly site of chapel or college.

19th century.
Neolithic flint found.

1881.
Medieval ring found

February 1915. Scheduled.
Caistor Castle
Short Description of Monument and its condition:
The Castle lies 3 miles from Yarmouth in a northerly direction. Originally a Roman camp, but the remains of this is negligible. The present castle was built by Sir John Fastolfe and was added to by the Pastons.
It is a picturesque ruin, moated with a larger tower of the northwest; the walls formerly surrounded a quadrangle with the great hall on the west side; the south and east sides of the quadrangle are gone.
Information from Ancient Monuments Form (S15).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S16) for the current scheduling details.
H. Mellor (HES), 16 July 2018.

1950.
Post medieval jug found.

1963.
Human skull found
See details in file.
E. Rose (NAU) 27 September 1982.

December 1987. Listed, Grade II*.
Caister Hall
Listing Description Excerpt:
"House. Originally C15 outbuildings to Caister Castle and possibly forms remains of outer courtyard. Rebuilt 1830's. Brick and colourwashed brick. Slate roofs. L plan. At south-west corner a 3 storey C15 drum tower. Entrance doorway and C20 ground floor windows. Rectangular windows above to each floor at erratic intervals."
Information from (S17).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S17) for the current listing details.
H. Hamilton (HES), 26 November 2020.

June 2005. Norfolk NMP.
Earthworks, parchmarks and standing walls associated with Caister Castle are visible on aerial photographs (S1 and (S2). The castle is centred on TG 5048 1229.
The castle moat is rectangular in plan and is largely extant and water filled. It has external dimensions of 122m by 78m and is up to 18m wide. Two spurs from the main moat divide the inner court in the southwest from an outer courtyard to the northeast. These are not extant and are visible on aerial photographs as shallow earthworks and cropmarks (S1) and (S2). A parchmark crossing between these two infilled spurs appears to mark the position of a bridge or causeway. This parchmark continues along the northeast side of these sections of former moat indicting the presence of a track or road within the courtyard. Positive cropmarks cutting across the area of the bridge or causeway may represent drains leading into the moat. A single linear parchmark, probably marking the position of a wall is present in the eastern part of the outer courtyard. It extends for 11m on a northwest to southeast alignment parallel to the outer wall of the courtyard and may be part of a lean-to type structure.
Extant remains of walls are clearly visible around the inner courtyard of the castle (S1) and (S2). These are the exterior walls of a range of buildings that surrounded the courtyard. Two square parchmarks, representing buried walls, are present either side of the causeway or bridge leading to the outer courtyard (S1). The castle itself is visible on a large number of aerial photographs (S1) to (S9).
J. Albone (NMP), 13 June 2005.

In the early 1970s the Tree Walk from the Battersea Park Festival gardens [1], London, was moved to the castle. If it still exists it is an important relic of the Festival of Britain 1951.
E. Rose (NLA), 22 May 2006.

The castle is now the site of a motor museum.
M. Dennis (NLA), 9 November 2006.

11 March 2009.
Scheduled monument consent granted concerning borehole works, de-silting and brickwork repointing.
See (S10) for more details.
H. White (NLA), 29 April 2009.

December 2009-March 2010. Watching Brief and Test Pitting.
The south-west facing wall of the castle was observed in tests pits at a depth of 0.7m below the water level of the moat. The presence of very hard mortar could indicate the use of hydraulic lime which would have been water resistant and fell out of general use in the medieval period to be reintroduced in the 17th century. There was also evidence for significant demolition and collapse of the wall that may have taken place during the 1700s. The presence of rubble probably of AD 1700 to 1800 in date indicates that this area of the moat had not been dredged in recent years and that the moat probably was selectively dredged in the past. Other parts of the moat indicate that it was probably used as a rubbish dump for domestic waste such as animal bones. The moat was extensively remodelled in the mid to late 19th century according to 19th century maps with the central moat dividing the inner and outer courts of the castle being infilled and part of the moat on the south-east side was also altered. The oldest artefact recovered was a mid to late 17th century clay pipe.
See report (S12) for further details.
It appears that the archive associated with this work has probably been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2011.286 and/or NWHCM : 2011.435).
S. Howard (NLA), 19 August 2010.

November 2016.
It has been suggested that the vertical stack of recesses built into the inglenook fire place after the building to which it belonged became roofless, previously identified as bee boles, comprise 30 small recesses for pigeons and four larger recesses for the winter storage of bee skeps (S14).
D. Gurney (HES), 01 November 2016.

Monument Types

• FINDSPOT (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• CASTLE (Medieval to 21st Century - 1066 AD to 2100 AD)
• CHANTRY COLLEGE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• COURTYARD HOUSE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FINDSPOT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• MOAT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• ROAD (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• FINDSPOT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• GREAT HOUSE (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• FOOTBRIDGE (Mid 20th Century to Unknown - 1953 AD)

Associated Finds

• ANIMAL REMAINS (Unknown date)
• HUMAN REMAINS (Undated)
• OYSTER SHELL (Unknown date)
• LITHIC IMPLEMENT (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
• BRICK (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• FINGER RING (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• BRICK (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• POT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• CLAY PIPE (SMOKING) (17th Century - 1650 AD to 1699 AD)

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument
• Listed Building
• Listed Building

Sources and further reading

Related records

Find out more...

• Castles in Norfolk (Article)
• Parish Summary: West Caister (Parish Summary)
• West Caister, Caister Castle (Places to Visit)