Weeting Castle

Weeting castle. An interesting site accessed from a main road. Well you are directed by signs from the main road at a junction near to Brandon. It leads to a small housing estate with old styled housing and cottages on one side of the road and box style bungalows on the other. Following the sign posts it appears that you are working deeper and deeper into the housing estate until one sign points to a dirt track down beside some bungalows.

Following the track you eventually reach a small area of parking with banks on either side. One side leading to the back gardens of the housing estate and the other up to the grounds of the castle.

I walked up the steps to a gate which opened onto a grass path lined or flanked by a black metal fence guiding you down to the ruined structure of Weeting Castle. Not much is left of the structure apart from one end wall of the great hall, some low level walls of other parts of the building and what appears to be a fully intacted ice house.

Some history

Lets jump back to about 1180 when Weeting Castle was originally built. It is recorded that it was the home of the de Plais family who inhabited the castle up to about the late 14th century. It was later abandoned by the Howards who were the Earls of Norfolk. It came to their possession through marriage.

There are many similarities to be found in the remains of Weeting Castle with that of Castle Acre. While it is named Weeting Castle, there is no evidence to suggest that it was ever fortified and it is believed that the moat that once surrounded the site was added in the mid 13th century was merely an ornamental feature designed to show the wealth and power of the de Plais family.

On the site a fairly intacted ice house can be found which was added to the site during the construction of Weeting Hall, which has, unfortunately, since been demolished.

Evidence of the site having been occupied since the Saxon period has been found in the form of pottery, burnt daub and post holes.

My visit to Weeting Castle 

I walked around the site to take in the overall scale of it. One wall almost reaches full height. The earthworks showing the fortifications of the site. The moat, now dry in most parts, still clearly visible encircling the compound. 

While called Weeting Castle, this building was not a castleas we think of them. Weeting Castle was a manor house.

I wandered around the grounds of the castle and came across the ice house. The brick edged doorway now filled with a black metal gate stopping you falling into the pit in which the ice was stored. Unfortunately it is no longer filled with ice but people's waste that they discard there using it like a waste paper bin. 

While it is not a huge castle or site I enjoyed my wander around. It was fairly quiet the day I went, coming across maybe one or two groups of three people. Like myself they were enjoying their wander.

Definitelyworth visiting and once I have finished my adventures around sites I haven't yet visited or explored I shall return one day to visit it again.

Background history information adapted from information available at http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/weeting-castle/history/