Caister Castle is a 15th-century

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

ed castle situated in the parish of

West Caister West Caister is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated just inland from the coast, some from the seaside resort of Caister-on-Sea and north of the town of Great Yarmouth. The civil parish has an area of a ...

, some north of the town of

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

in the English county of

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 had a 100 ft (33 m) high tower and was built between 1432 and 1446 by Sir

John Fastolf Sir John Fastolf (6 November 1380 – 5 November 1459) was a late medieval English landowner and knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War. He has enjoyed a more lasting reputation as the prototype, in some part, of Shakespeare's charact ...

, who (along with Sir

John Oldcastle Sir John Oldcastle (died 14 December 1417) was an English Lollard leader. Being a friend of Henry V, he long escaped prosecution for heresy. When convicted, he escaped from the Tower of London and then led a rebellion against the King. Eventual ...

) was an inspiration for

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...

.'' The castle suffered severe damage in 1469 when it was

besieged Besieged may refer to: * the state of being under siege * ''Besieged'' (film), a 1998 film by Bernardo Bertolucci {{disambiguation ...

and captured by the

Duke of Norfolk Duke of Norfolk is a title in the peerage of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the county of Norfolk. The current duke is Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk. The dukes ...

. The castle, other than the tower, fell into ruin after 1600 when a new house was built nearby. The castle's tower is still intact and can be climbed by visitors, although as of July 2020 the tower is temporarily closed due to the need for social distancing.

Paston Letters

A detailed inventory was made of Sir John Fastolf's personal goods after his death in 1459. It includes silver plate, equipment for his chapel, the clothes and tapestry in his wardrobe at Caister, his armour, and the furnishings in several named rooms and chambers at Caister Castle. Sir John Fastolf intended that the castle should be converted into an enormous

chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a Christian liturgy of prayers for the dead, which historically was an obiit, or # a chantry chapel, a building on private land, or an area in ...

, to pray for his soul and that of his nearest and dearest; but as a result of various disputes about his will, it devolved instead to the

Paston family The ''Paston Letters'' is a collection of correspondence between members of the Paston family of Norfolk gentry and others connected with them in England between the years 1422 and 1509. The collection also includes state papers and other impor ...

, while the bulk of Fastolf's money went to endow

Magdalen College Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

in Oxford. Consequently, the castle features extensively in the '

Paston Letters The ''Paston Letters'' is a collection of correspondence between members of the Paston family of Norfolk gentry and others connected with them in England between the years 1422 and 1509. The collection also includes state papers and other impor ...

', a unique collection of family correspondence covering the period of the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...

, documenting the Paston family's struggles to climb and maintain position on the English social ladder. John Paston was a close confidante and advisor to Sir

. Sir John died childless, and intestate; the castle was one of many properties in his estate. John Paston, with some justification, claimed to be his heir; this put him in direct conflict with various major players of the time, such as the

and Sir William Yelverton. As a result the castle was besieged in August 1469 by the Duke – in pursuit of his own claim of ownership – and defended by John Paston junior and approximately 30 men. The two-month defence was unsuccessful, resulting in the death of one of the Paston's longest-serving servants by a crossbow wound, and the loss of the castle to the Duke. Some years later, the castle was ultimately returned to the Paston family's ownership. In 1659, the Pastons sold it to William Crow (d. 1688), an upholsterer and money lender of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

, whose inscribed mural monument survives in Holy Trinity Church, Caister-on-Sea, although the fine marble sculpted bust of Crowe was stolen in 2014. Later, the Castle descended by marriage to the Bedingfield family. The Castle later suffered from neglect and the robbing of stonework and other fittings, including in about 1776 when Rev. David Collyer removed a newell staircase with 122 stone steps from the tower and incorporated in into his house at Wroxham. The inner moat was filled in between 1842 and 1893, and a lake was created by the widening of the south-eastern side. In 1952, the owner of the castle was Charles Hamblen-Thomas.

Caister Castle Motor Museum

The Caister Castle Motor Museum was created in the 1960s in the south-west grounds of the Castle, and comprises a private collection of veteran, vintage, classic, sports and touring automobiles and motorcycles. The museum also displays bicycles,

horse-drawn vehicle A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have m ...

s, pedal cars, agriculture equipment and transportation items. The exhibits are located in a purpose-built building. Admission to the castle includes the museum, castle tower and grounds.

Notes

References

*Fry, Plantagenet Somerset, ''The David & Charles Book of Castles'', David & Charles, 1980. * Cooper, Stephen, ''The Real Falstaff, Sir John Fastolf and the Hundred Years War'', (Pen & Sword, 2010)

External links

Caister Castle
- official site including the Motor Museum

{{authority control Castles in Norfolk Ruins in Norfolk Grade I listed buildings in Norfolk Museums in Norfolk Automobile museums in England Transport museums in England

Paston Letters

Caister Castle Motor Museum

Notes

See also

References

External links