Castle Rising is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the English county of

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 ...

. Castle Rising is located along the course of the River Babingley, separating the village from the lost village of Babingley. The village is located north-east of

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

and north-west of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

History

Castle Rising's name is of Norman and

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

origin, deriving from a mix of the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

and

Norman French Norman or Norman French (, , Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a '' langue d'oïl'' spoken in the historical and cultural region of Normandy. The name "Norman French" is sometimes also used to describe the administrative languages of '' Angl ...

for a castle close to the settlement of Risa's people. In the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

, Castle Rising is listed as a settlement of 41 households in the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

of Freebridge. In 1086, the village was part of the estates of Bishop Odo of Bayeux. Castle Rising Castle was built in the 1140s on the orders of William d'Aubigny and was most famously the residence of Queen Isabella after her role in the murder of King Edward II. The castle was subsequently passed to Edward of Woodstock and, today, the site 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 ...

. Prior to the

Reform Act 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the Reform Act 1832, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 45), enacted by the Whig government of Pri ...

, Castle Rising was a

parliamentary borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

yet due to its small population it was often labelled as an example of a

rotten borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or Electoral district, constituency in Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, or the United Kin ...

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys ( ; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English writer and Tories (British political party), Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament (England), Member of Parliament, but is most r ...

was the member for Castle Rising between 1673 and 1679 as was

Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (; 26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745), known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British Whigs (British political party), Whig statesman who is generally regarded as the ''de facto'' first Prim ...

between 1701 and 1702.

Geography

According to the 2021 census, the population of Castle Rising is 200 people which shows a slight decrease from the 216 people listed in the 2011 census. The River Babingley runs through the parish.

St. Lawrence's Church

Castle Rising's parish church is dedicated to

Saint Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence (; 31 December 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the Persecution of Christians, persecution of the Christians that the Roman Empire, Rom ...

and was built in the Twelfth Century on the orders of William d'Aubigny, Earl of Arundel. St. Lawrence's is located on Church Lane and has been Grade I listed since 1960. The church was restored first by Anthony Salvin in the 1840s and subsequently by George Edmund Street in the 1860s, both at the expense of Fulk Greville Howard. The church boasts a carved Twelfth Century

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

and stained-glass designed by William Wailes.

In popular culture

Castle Rising appeared as a Danish village in Out of Africa. Castle Rising was also the setting for

Grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

, a 2003 spin-off of The Fast Show.

Notable Residents

* William d'Aubigny, Earl of Arundel- (1109-1176) nobleman, lived at Castle Rising. * Isabella of France- (1295-1358) Queen of England, lived at Castle Rising. * Colonel Robert Walpole- (1650-1700) politician and militia officer, Member of Parliament for Castle Rising. * Sir Robert Walpole, Earl Orford- (1676-1745) Prime Minister, Member of Parliament for Castle Rising. * Colonel Fulk Greville Howard- (1773-1846) politician and soldier, lived in Castle Rising. * Horace Farquhar, Earl Farquhar GCB GCVO- (1844-1923) financier and politician, lived in Castle Rising. * Reverend Ean Campbell- (1856-1921) Anglican Bishop, Rector of Castle Rising 1885-91. * Greville Howard, Baron Rising- (b.1941) politician, lived at Castle Rising. * James Donaldson- (b.1943)

cricketer, born in Castle Rising.

Governance

Castle Rising is part of the electoral ward of The Woottons for local elections and is part of the

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

of King's Lynn and West Norfolk. The village's national constituency is North West Norfolk which has been represented by the Conservative's James Wild MP since 2010.

War Memorial

Castle Rising's war memorials feature two engraved lantern posts in the village as well as a stone plaque inside St. Lawrence's Church. The memorials lists the following names for the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

: And, the following for the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk