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BUCKENHAM CASTLE

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DESCRIPTION

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Remains of castle earthworks, moat and keep. Built circa 1145-50 by William II de Albini to replace Old Buckenham Castle (TM 09 SE 4). It comprises an inner bailey and two outer baileys, all with earth walls. The circular keep is the earliest in England. Its walls are 11 ft thick at the foot and the total height of the keep may have been as much as 40 ft. The castle was demolished in the 1640's by the then owner (Sir Philip Knyvet) perhaps at the request of Parliament. The earliest castle seems to have been a simple ringwork 200 ft across with an oval outer enclosure (or bailey) to the East, defended by a bank and ditch. Later, the ditch of the ringmotte was widened and the bank thereof correspondingly raised, burying a stone gatehouse beside the keep, and a new entrance was made (on the opposite side) from a new bailey to the SW. Nothing remains above the ground storey. There is evidence of a second bailey to the South-West.

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(TM 08429041) Castle (NR) (Remains of) (1)

Moat and earthworks. Portion of Keep, or other building, of flint
and ashlar. 12th century, Grade 1. (2)

Built c 1145-50 by William II de Albini to replace Old Buckenham Castle (TM 09 SE 4). It comprises an inner bailey and two outer baileys, all with earth walls. The circular keep is unusual in being the earliest in England. Its walls are 11 ft thick at the foot and the total height of the keep may have been as much as 40 ft. The castle was demolished in the 1640's by the then owner (Sir Philip Knyvet) perhaps at the request of Parliament. (3)

The earliest castle seems to have been a simple ringwork 200 ft across with an oval outer enclosure (or bailey) to the East, defended by a bank and ditch. Later, the ditch of the ringmotte was widened and the bank thereof correspondingly raised, burying a stone gatehouse beside the keep, and a new entrance was made (on the opposite side) from a new bailey to the SW. Nothing remains above the ground storey. (See plan). (4)

A fine example of an earthen ring castle with the ploughed-down remains of a bailey to the E. The circular keep now achieves the maximum height of 7.5m and its present top is almost horizontal, which suggests the portion demolished in the 17th century may have been of a different character.
No surveyable features of a SW bailey could be seen but its
possible boundaries may have been the bending road to the SE and S and the stream to the SW.
See 25" survey. (5)

TM 084904. Buckenham Castle - scheduled. The scheduled area has been extended to include the eastern bailey and the 13th bailey to the south and west. (6)

The remains are generally as described by Auths. 1 to 6, however, the following additional earthworks have been identified. A bailey on the south-west, semi-circular in plan measures some 150m. in diameter. Its strongest section is on the south-west where it is visible as a ditch some 2.1m. deep by 10.0m. wide with a counterscarp bank c 8.0m. wide by 1.5m. in height at its south-east end. This had been reduced at the north corner of the field and continues westwards for c 180m. as a shallow bank averaging 9.0m. wide by 0.5m. in height. The remainder of the ditch is under plough and visible as a shallow depression some 0.4m. deep. Abutting the bailey and almost enclosing a pasture field to the SW and extending to the north, is a bank or terrace averaging 0.7m. in height with a possible fishpond and terraces at its SE corner. To the north are the remains of a sub-rectangular ditched enclosure measuring 68.0m. north to south and 80.0m. east to west. The ditch attains a width of 18.0m. a depth of 1.0m. and the inner bank on the south side is 0.4m. high. In the south-west corner is a small depression 0.4m. deep. In a pasture field to the south of the eastern bailey is a further terrace. All these earthworks are almost certainly associated with the complex.
Surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD. (7)

Castle including C13 south west moat bridge. Remains of Castle Keep 1140's possibly complete by 1146. Grade I (see list for details) (8)

Additional reference (9)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) General reference

OS 6" 1959

( 2) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

DOE (HHR) Prov List Wayland RD 1948 16

( 3) by Nikolaus Pevsner 1962 North-west and south Norfolk

The Buildings of England Page(s)268

( 4) Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society Norfolk archaeology : a journal of archaeology and local history

D F Renn 32, 1958 Page(s)232-5

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

F1 BHS 29-SEP-70

( 6) General reference

DOE (IAM) Anc Mons Rec Form Nov 1978

( 7) Field Investigators Comments

F2 RSC 26-FEB-81

(8) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

DOE(HHR) Dist of Breckland Norf 1984 46

(9) Royal Archaeological Institute The Archaeological Journal

S Rigold 137, 1980 Page(s)353-5

RELATED MONUMENTS

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Monument Name/No

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Description

NEW BUCKENHAM
NEW BUCKENHAM

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New Buckenham was originally a town laid out beyond the castle bailey founded in the late 12th century by William de Albini, Earl of Sussex. A text su...

MONUMENT TYPES

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MEDIEVAL GATEHOUSE 1145 to 1150

MEDIEVAL KEEP 1145 to 1150

MEDIEVAL RINGWORK AND BAILEY 1145 to 1150

MEDIEVAL BAILEY 1200 to 1299

MEDIEVAL BRIDGE 1200 to 1299

MEDIEVAL CASTLE 1200 to 1299

MEDIEVAL GATEHOUSE 1200 to 1299

MEDIEVAL KEEP 1200 to 1299

MEDIEVAL MOAT 1200 to 1299

MEDIEVAL KEEP 1400 to 1499

POST MEDIEVAL CASTLE 1640 to 1649

POST MEDIEVAL EARTHWORK 1640 to 1649

POST MEDIEVAL KEEP 1640 to 1649

POST MEDIEVAL MOAT 1640 to 1649

POST MEDIEVAL BRIDGE 1800 to 1899

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