Horsford Castle is situated in the village of
Horsford
Horsford is a village six miles north of Norwich, England which is surrounded by the Horsford Forest and is named after the dried up section of the River Hor. Its population has seen a steady increase since the Second World War, growing from 750 ...
, 6 miles to the north of the city of
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
.
Details
Before the
Norman conquest of England
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, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...
, Horsford was held by an Anglo-Saxon named Edric but after the conquest
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 ...
granted the land to
Robert Malet
Robert Malet (c. 1050 – by 1130) was a Norman-English baron and a close advisor of Henry I.
Early life
Malet was the son of William Malet, and inherited his father's great honour of Eye in 1071. This made him one of the dozen or so great ...
, the Lord of Eye.
[Barrett-Lennard, pp.269-270.] Robert was exiled after he sided against
Henry I Henry I may refer to:
876–1366
* Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936)
* Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955)
* Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018)
* Henry I of France (1008–1060)
* Henry I the Long, Margrave of the No ...
, but had by then granted the manor of Horsford to Walter de Caen.
Walter built 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 (castle), bailey, surrounded by a protective Rampart (fortification ...
castle on the site, in an area of heathland, possibly positioning his castle to make a political statement about his control of these pasturelands.
[Liddiard, p.38.] He turned the surrounding area into a
park
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...
.
[Barrett-Lennard, p.270.] The motte was 77 metres by 85 metres wide, and around 2.3m high, with a single bailey 72 metres by 32 metres wide.
Horsford Castle
', Gatehouse website, accessed 26 April 2011.
Walter's son
Robert fitz Walter
Robert FitzwalterAlso spelled Fitzwater, FitzWalter, fitzWalter, etc. (died 9 December 1235) was one of the leaders of the baronial opposition against King John, and one of the twenty-five sureties of ''Magna Carta''. He was feudal baron of Lit ...
was
Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk
This is a list of Sheriffs of Norfolk and Suffolk. The Sheriff (since 1974 called High Sheriff) is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually by the Crown. He was originally the principal law enforcement officer in the c ...
from 1115 to 1129. When Robert and his wife were returning from a pilgrimage to
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, they were attacked by bandits, robbed and thrown into prison. However, after praying to
St Faith
Saint Faith or Saint Faith of Conques (Latin: Sancta Fides; French language, French: Sainte-Foy; Spanish language, Spanish: Santa Fe) is a saint who is said to have been a girl or young woman of Agen in Aquitaine. Her legend recounts how she was ...
, they were released, and Robert subsequently founded the
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
of St Faith's near the castle.
Today
The site seems to have been abandoned around the middle of the fifteenth century. All that now remains is the low-lying motte and bailey in a field to the east of the village. The castle is a scheduled monument.
[
]
See also
*Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
Castles have played an important military, economic and social role in Great Britain and Ireland since their introduction following the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Although a small number of castles had been built in England in the 10 ...
*List of castles in England
This list of castles in England is not a list of every building and site that has "castle" as part of its name, nor does it list only buildings that conform to a strict definition of a castle as a medieval fortified residence. It is not a li ...
Bibliography
*
*Christopher Harper-Bill. (ed) (2005)
Medieval East Anglia.
' Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press. .
*Liddiard, Robert. (2005) "The Castle Landscapes of Anglo-Norman East Anglia: A regional perspective," in Christopher Harper-Bill (ed)
Further reading
*Fry, Plantagenet Somerset, ''The David & Charles Book of Castles'', David & Charles, 1980.
References
Castles in Norfolk
Scheduled monuments in Norfolk
Horsford
{{England-castle-stub