Thetford Castle
Encyclopedia
Thetford Castle, also known as Castle Hill and Castle Mound, usually refers to a medieval motte and bailey castle in the market town of Thetford in the Breckland
area of Norfolk
, England
, although it can also refer to Red Castle, built in the same town. Red Castle was a probable 11th century Norman ringwork
, superseded in the 12th century by the much larger motte and bailey castle on the other side of the town. This new castle was largely destroyed in 1173 by Henry II
, although the huge motte, the second largest man-made mound in England, remained intact. The castle now forms part of a local park.
. Thetford was also an important international trading hub and a centre of pottery production. During the late Saxon era the town had been protected by a burgh
, or ditched enclosure, that surrounded the town.
The first castle on the Thetford site was called Red Castle and was probably built shortly after the Norman conquest of England
by William de Warenne
, the Earl of Surrey
. The castle was a ringwork
design and was positioned across the defensive Saxon ditch, in the process cutting off the local church from the inside of the town and building over part of the local cemetery.
, the Earl of Norfolk
. Roger Bigod decided to build a new motte and bailey castle, positioning it so as to guard both the town and the local crossing of the Icknield Way
over the River Thet
and the Little Ouse
.
At the heart of the castle was a huge motte, or artificial mound, sunk into a deep surrounding ditch, and protected on the north site by two sets of complex ramparts
, which were probably part of the original Iron Age
fortifications of the site. At 19.6 m (64 feet) high - 22 m (72 feet) from the base of the ditch - and 100 m (328 feet) wide across the base, this is the second largest man-made mound in England. The castle would have probably included a large timber keep
on top of the motte, and a rectangular bailey fortification, approximately 105 m by 95 m (344 feet by 312 feet), stretched away from the motte, exploiting the former Iron Age fortifications on one side. The new castle would have loomed over, and dominated, the former Saxon town.
The castle earthworks were build up from local chalk
; the ditches dug around the fortification would not have provided enough for the mound itself, and local tradition suggests that much of the earth was quarried instead from the nearby Gallows Pits in the town. The castle was constructed by hand, using workers digging with wooden shovel
s, and probably without pickaxe
s. It is estimated that the motte would have taken around 24,000 man days of effort to build.
The Bigod family continued to build their grip on the region, taking advantage of their powerful castles at Thetford, Framlingham
, Bungay
, Walton
. Roger's son, Hugh Bigod
, played a prominent role during the civil war years of the Anarchy
, rebelling against King Stephen
from his strongholds in East Anglia. It appears likely that a stone wall had been built around the bailey around this time, and recent work by archaeologists Paul Everson and Marcus Jecock has speculated that a stone keep was also erected on the site. At the end of the war, however, Henry II
took the throne and attempted to restore royal power across the region. In 1157, Henry seized Bigod's castles; he ultimately returned Framlingham and Bungay, but retained Theford Castle for his own use. Hugh then joined the revolt by Henry's sons, seizing the castle, but in 1173 Henry's forces captured the castle and destroyed the fortifications. The mound, however, proved effectively indestructable.
trees were planted near the top of the mound.
Interest continued in the origins of the castle, which for a period were forgotten. Local medieval tradition suggested that the mound had been made by the devil, after he completed the dykes at Narborough
and Newmarket
, but by the Victorian period academics had concluded that the mound was either of Celtic or Norman
origin, with late Victorian scholars correctly concluding that the Norman period was the most likely. Archaeological investigations into Red Castle by Knocker between 1957-8, and during the early 1960s by R. R. Clarke and Barbara Green revealed the design and date of this castle site.
Breckland
The Breckland as a landscape region is an unusual natural habitat of England. It comprises the gorse-covered sandy heath that exists in the north of the county of Suffolk and the south of Norfolk. An area of considerable interest for its unusual flora and fauna, it lies to the south east of another...
area of Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, although it can also refer to Red Castle, built in the same town. Red Castle was a probable 11th century Norman ringwork
Ringwork
A ringwork is a form of fortified defensive structure, usually circular or oval in shape. Ringworks are essentially motte-and-bailey castles minus the motte...
, superseded in the 12th century by the much larger motte and bailey castle on the other side of the town. This new castle was largely destroyed in 1173 by Henry II
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
, although the huge motte, the second largest man-made mound in England, remained intact. The castle now forms part of a local park.
11th century
In the 11th century the largest towns in England were concentrated in the east and south-east of the country, especially in East Anglia. The town of Thetford was an important English town during the period, and the second largest town in East Anglia. Thetford comes from "Thaetford", or "the ford", and was a key point on the ancient Icknield WayIcknield Way
The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern England. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills.-Background:...
. Thetford was also an important international trading hub and a centre of pottery production. During the late Saxon era the town had been protected by a burgh
Burgh
A burgh was an autonomous corporate entity in Scotland and Northern England, usually a town. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burgh status was broadly analogous to borough status, found in the rest of the United...
, or ditched enclosure, that surrounded the town.
The first castle on the Thetford site was called Red Castle and was probably built shortly after the Norman conquest of England
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
by William de Warenne
William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey
William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, Seigneur de Varennes is one of the very few proven Companions of William the Conqueror known to have fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066...
, the Earl of Surrey
Earl of Surrey
The Earl of Surrey is a title in the Peerage of England, and has been created five times. It was first created for William de Warenne, a close companion of William the Conqueror...
. The castle was a ringwork
Ringwork
A ringwork is a form of fortified defensive structure, usually circular or oval in shape. Ringworks are essentially motte-and-bailey castles minus the motte...
design and was positioned across the defensive Saxon ditch, in the process cutting off the local church from the inside of the town and building over part of the local cemetery.
12th century
By 1100, the town of Thetford was controlled by Roger BigodRoger Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk
Roger Bigod was a Norman knight who came to England in the Norman Conquest. He held great power in East Anglia, and five of his descendants were Earl of Norfolk. He was also known as Roger Bigot, appearing as such as a witness to the Charter of Liberties of Henry I of England.-Biography:Roger came...
, the Earl of Norfolk
Earl of Norfolk
Earl of Norfolk is a title which has been created several times in the Peerage of England. Created in 1070, the first major dynasty to hold the title was the 12th and 13th century Bigod family, and it then was later held by the Mowbrays, who were also made Dukes of Norfolk...
. Roger Bigod decided to build a new motte and bailey castle, positioning it so as to guard both the town and the local crossing of the Icknield Way
Icknield Way
The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern England. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills.-Background:...
over the River Thet
River Thet
The River Thet is a river in Norfolk, England and is a tributary of the River Little Ouse.It rises in The Fens around Rockland All Saints and joins the Little Ouse in Thetford....
and the Little Ouse
River Little Ouse
The Little Ouse is a river in the east of England, a tributary of the River Great Ouse. For much of its length it defines the boundary between Norfolk and Suffolk....
.
At the heart of the castle was a huge motte, or artificial mound, sunk into a deep surrounding ditch, and protected on the north site by two sets of complex ramparts
Defensive wall
A defensive wall is a fortification used to protect a city or settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements...
, which were probably part of the original Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
fortifications of the site. At 19.6 m (64 feet) high - 22 m (72 feet) from the base of the ditch - and 100 m (328 feet) wide across the base, this is the second largest man-made mound in England. The castle would have probably included a large timber keep
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 residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...
on top of the motte, and a rectangular bailey fortification, approximately 105 m by 95 m (344 feet by 312 feet), stretched away from the motte, exploiting the former Iron Age fortifications on one side. The new castle would have loomed over, and dominated, the former Saxon town.
The castle earthworks were build up from local chalk
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
; the ditches dug around the fortification would not have provided enough for the mound itself, and local tradition suggests that much of the earth was quarried instead from the nearby Gallows Pits in the town. The castle was constructed by hand, using workers digging with wooden shovel
Shovel
A shovel is a tool for digging, lifting, and moving bulk materials, such as soil, coal, gravel, snow, sand, or ore. Shovels are extremely common tools that are used extensively in agriculture, construction, and gardening....
s, and probably without pickaxe
Pickaxe
A pickaxe or pick is a hand tool with a hard head attached perpendicular to the handle.Some people make the distinction that a pickaxe has a head with a pointed end and a flat end, and a pick has both ends pointed, or only one end; but most people use the words to mean the same thing.The head is...
s. It is estimated that the motte would have taken around 24,000 man days of effort to build.
The Bigod family continued to build their grip on the region, taking advantage of their powerful castles at Thetford, Framlingham
Framlingham Castle
Framlingham Castle is a castle in the market town of Framlingham in Suffolk in England. An early motte and bailey or ringwork Norman castle was built on the Framlingham site by 1148, but this was destroyed by Henry II of England in the aftermath of the revolt of 1173-4...
, Bungay
Bungay Castle
Bungay Castle is in the town of Bungay, Suffolk by the River Waveney.-Details:Originally this was a Norman castle built by Roger Bigod, around 1100, which took advantage of the protection given by the curve of the River Waveney...
, Walton
Walton Castle
Walton Castle is a 17th Century, Grade II listed castle set upon a hill in Clevedon, North Somerset, on the site of an earlier Iron Age hill fort.-History:...
. Roger's son, Hugh Bigod
Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk
Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk was born in Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire, England.He was the second son of Roger Bigod , Sheriff of Norfolk, who founded the Bigod name in England...
, played a prominent role during the civil war years of the Anarchy
The Anarchy
The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter was a period of English history during the reign of King Stephen, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government...
, rebelling against King Stephen
Stephen of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
from his strongholds in East Anglia. It appears likely that a stone wall had been built around the bailey around this time, and recent work by archaeologists Paul Everson and Marcus Jecock has speculated that a stone keep was also erected on the site. At the end of the war, however, Henry II
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
took the throne and attempted to restore royal power across the region. In 1157, Henry seized Bigod's castles; he ultimately returned Framlingham and Bungay, but retained Theford Castle for his own use. Hugh then joined the revolt by Henry's sons, seizing the castle, but in 1173 Henry's forces captured the castle and destroyed the fortifications. The mound, however, proved effectively indestructable.
13th-20th centuries
Thetford declined after the 12th century, and the castle rapidly became disused, although as late as 1558, the Castle Yard was in use and still said to have been surrounded with a stone wall. In 1772 the east bank of the outer bailey was destroyed. In 1823 a group of elmElm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The dozens of species are found in temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ranging southward into Indonesia. Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests...
trees were planted near the top of the mound.
Interest continued in the origins of the castle, which for a period were forgotten. Local medieval tradition suggested that the mound had been made by the devil, after he completed the dykes at Narborough
Narborough, Norfolk
Narborough is a village of 1405 hectares in the Breckland district of Norfolk, England with a population of 1095 as of the 2001 census. It is situated in the Nar Valley, with the river Nar flowing through on its way to the River Great Ouse....
and Newmarket
Devil's Dyke, Cambridgeshire
The Devil's Dyke is an earthwork in the English county of Cambridgeshire. It consists of a long bank and ditch that runs in a south-east direction from the small village of Reach to nearby Woodditton...
, but by the Victorian period academics had concluded that the mound was either of Celtic or Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
origin, with late Victorian scholars correctly concluding that the Norman period was the most likely. Archaeological investigations into Red Castle by Knocker between 1957-8, and during the early 1960s by R. R. Clarke and Barbara Green revealed the design and date of this castle site.