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 held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

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. It had a population of 211 at the 2011 United Kingdom census. The northern bound ...

in the north of the English county of Suffolk.

Details

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 The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

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

, 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 canon A canon (from the Latin , itself derived from the Greek , , "relating to a rule", "regular") is a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, i ...

s from nearby

Norton Norton may refer to: Places Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada * Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan *Norton Parish, New Brunswick **Norton, New Brunswick, a ...

, 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, o ...

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 and d ...

and a grade 2

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

; 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

Details

See also

References

Bibliography