Castle Acre Castle and town walls are a set of ruined medieval defences built in the village of

Castle Acre Castle Acre is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is located on the course of the River Nar, north of Swaffham and west of Norwich. History Castle Acre's name is of Anglo-Saxon and Norman origin and d ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

. The castle was built soon after the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

by William de Warenne, the

Earl of Surrey Earl of Surrey is a title in the Peerage of England that has been created five times. It was first created for William de Warenne, a close companion of William the Conqueror. It is currently held as a subsidiary title by the Dukes of Norfo ...

, at the intersection of the

River Nar The River Nar is a river in England, a tributary of the River Great Ouse. It rises at Mileham near Litcham in Norfolk and flows 15 miles west through Castle Acre and Narborough (the latter giving the Nar its name), joining the Ouse at King's ...

and the

Peddars Way The Peddars Way is a long distance footpath that passes through Suffolk and Norfolk, England. Route The Peddars Way is 46 miles (74 km) long and follows the route of a Roman road. It has been suggested by more than one writer that it was ...

. William constructed a

motte-and-bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively eas ...

castle during the 1070s, protected by large earthwork ramparts, with a large country house in the centre of the motte. Soon after, a small community of

Cluniac Cluny Abbey (; , formerly also ''Cluni'' or ''Clugny''; ) is a former Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine monastery in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. It was dedicated to Saint Peter, Saints Peter and Saint Paul, Paul. The abbey was constructed ...

monks were given the castle's chapel in the outer bailey; under

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

, the second earl, the order was given land and estates to establish

Castle Acre Priory Castle Acre Priory was a Cluniac priory in the village of Castle Acre, Norfolk, England, dedicated to St Mary, St Peter, and St Paul. It is thought to have been founded in 1089 by William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey (the son of the ...

alongside the castle. A deer park was created nearby for hunting. After civil war broke out in England in 1135, the third earl, also called

, set about improving the defences of the castle. He began to build a tall

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

on top of the motte, reinforcing the surrounding earthworks with stone walls. A

planned settlement A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

was established alongside the castle, surrounded by its own earthworks and walls, and the Peddars Way was redirected to pass by the castle, town and priory, all important symbols of the de Warennes' power in the region.

Hamelin de Warenne Hamelin de Warenne, Earl of Surrey ( 1130 – 7 May 1202) (''alias'' Hamelin of Anjou and, anachronistically,"It is much to be wished that the surname "Plantagenet," which since the time of Charles II, has been freely given to all descendants of ...

acquired the castle through marriage and curtailed the building work on the keep around 1165, but completed the construction of three large stone

gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the most ...

s in the castle and town. One of these, the town's bailey gate, still survives intact. The de Warennes continued to hold the castle until 1347, when it was inherited by Richard Fitzalan, the

Earl of Arundel Earl of Arundel is a title of nobility in England, and one of the oldest extant in the English peerage. It is currently held by the Duke of Norfolk, and it is used (along with the earldom of Surrey) by his heir apparent as a courtesy title ...

. By 1397 the fortifications were in ruins and, despite restoration work by Sir

Edward Coke Sir Edward Coke ( , formerly ; 1 February 1552 – 3 September 1634) was an English barrister, judge, and politician. He is often considered the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan era, Elizabethan and Jacobean era, Jacobean eras. Born into a ...

at the start of the 17th century, the decline continued until the 20th century. In 1971, Thomas Coke, the

Earl of Leicester Earl of Leicester is a title that has been created seven times. The first title was granted during the 12th century in the Peerage of England. The current title is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and was created in 1837. History Earl ...

, placed the castle into the guardianship of the state. In the 21st century, it is managed by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

and open to visitors.

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

consider the castle's huge defensive earthworks to be "among the finest surviving in England".

History

11th century

Castle Acre Castle was built by William de Warenne, the

, in the manor of

Acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

during the 1070s. William was a Norman lord who had accompanied

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

in the conquest of England in 1066; he was rewarded with extensive estates across England. Acre was already an Anglo-Saxon estate centre and at the time of the invasion was owned by a wealthy man called Toki, but he was quickly replaced by Frederick, a

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

lord and William's brother-in-law. When Frederick died around 1070, William acquired control of the manor, which formed part of his massive land holdings across the region. Castle Acre Castle

The castle was strategically located where the

met the

, an old

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

, at the centre of Warenne's other estates in Norfolk, and may have been built on top of Toki's former house. The castle had a

design: its large

outer {{Short pages monitor