Mettingham Castle was a fortified

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

in the parish of

Mettingham Mettingham is a village and civil parish in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is east of the market town of Bungay in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district. It had a population of 211 at the 2011 United Kingdom census. ...

in the north of the

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

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Mettingham Castle was founded by Sir John de Norwich, who was given a licence to crenellate his existing manor house on the site in 1342.Mackenzie, p.283. The first house stood within a small moat, up to 15 foot wide with 6 foot high banks; upon receiving permission to crenellate, however, he built another court to the north of this, again moated, with a gateway to the north.Wall, p.621. Another moated court was later built to the south. An

Edwardian In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...

style gatehouse formed the entrance to the castle and supplemented a stone wall that surrounded the property. By 1562, there were "stables, servants' lodgings, kitchen, bakehouse, brewhouse, malting house, storehouses, and an aisled hall" within the castle walls.
Mettingham Castle
', National Monuments Record,

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 ...

, accessed 17 July 2011. Mettingham_Castle_plan

The castle remained in Sir John's family until 1394, when it was given to a college of secular canons from nearby Norton, who established

Mettingham College Mettingham College was a monastic college in the parish of Mettingham in the English county of Suffolk. The college was located within Mettingham Castle, although it was founded elsewhere. Foundation The college was founded on 24 July 1350, orig ...

on the small moated court within the castle. The monks taught up to 13 boys at the castle.
Mettingham Castle
',

, accessed 17 July 2011. After the dissolution of the monasteries the property was sold off to a sequence of private owners after 1542. The castle was largely demolished in the 18th century to make way for a new farm house on the site, which lasted until around 1880 when it was pulled down in turn; the house rebuilt on the site reused parts of the original medieval stonework. Today the site is a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

and a grade 2

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

; the gatehouse still survives, as do some of the stone walls and many of the surrounding moats and earthworks.
Mettingham Castle
', Gatehouse website, accessed 18 July 2011. In the 21st century a major renovation project occurred at the castle to repair the worsening damage, involving a grant of £330,000 by

References

Bibliography

*Mackenzie, J.D. (1896) ''Castles of England.'' New York: Macmillan. *Page, William. (ed) (1911) ''The Victoria History of Suffolk, Vol. 1.'' London: University of London. *Wall, J. C. (1911) "Ancient Earthworks," in Page (ed) (1911). {{bots, deny=InternetArchiveBot Castles in Suffolk Waveney District

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Bibliography