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

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. 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 Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...

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 Norfol ...

, at the intersection of the River Nar 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 n ...

. William constructed a motte-and-bailey 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 The Cluniac Reforms (also called the Benedictine Reform) were a series of changes within medieval monasticism of the Western Church focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. The movement began wi ...

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

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, the second earl, the order was given land and estates to establish Castle Acre Priory 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 on top of the motte, reinforcing the surrounding earthworks with stone walls. A planned settlement 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 mo ...

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 is used (along with the Earl of Surrey) by his heir apparent as a courtesy title. The ...

. By 1397 the fortifications were in ruins and, despite restoration work by Sir Edward Coke 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. Early creatio ...

, 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, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

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 Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

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

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

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 (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

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 River Nar met the

, an old Roman road, 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 motte-and-bailey design: its large

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