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/

 

St Mary's Haddiscoe

So here we have St Mary's Haddiscoe, and what an amazing treasure this is. I was told about this church by a family member and so decided when out that way one day to take a look. As I approched it, it sat atop the hill like a beacon of peace and hope to all around it.

As I mentioned above St Mary's sits on a hill and when you approach it, it looks very impressive with its round tower and checkerboard pattern around the top. From reading the information in the church itself, it is belived the tower and almost certainly the base dates from the Saxon period.

As you approach the doorway, their is a stone carving depicting possibly a saint. Whoever it is, the carving is very impressive giving some idea as to the wealth or pride this parish had for their faith.

Again inside this church does not cease to amaze with the remains of wall paintings that are still visible today. The carved stonework continues throughout the building and it is very impressive how decorative this church is. The ironwork on the door into the church made me feel like I was entering a building from Lord of the Rings, an elven house or a Gondorian hall.

Again the clerstory windows beautifully shaped, reminding me of a four leaved clover.

When I visited Haddiscoe church, it was a bright, sunny day which made the building ooze with grandness but not in a pompous way. It showed how much pride the parishioners had for their place of worship. Even though the main road runs very close to the bottom of the hill, the church and the churchyard around it was very peaceful. I could have spent hours just wandering the site, enjoying the tranquility. It was a place of pure peace and beauty.

It is clear to see that this church is still a beacon to all as it is well maintained and cared for and is still in use for regular worship.

 

All Saints Weybourne (Weybourne Priory)

On my travels around Norfolk I came across this site while using the North Norfolk coastal road. The signs on the gates that lead to this church give it the name of God's acre. As I walked through the graveyard I loved the peace and tranquility it provided even though its close proximity to the coastal road.

The church notice board gives the name of this Church as All Saints, Weybourne however this site has been more than just a parish church. A church has been on this site since Saxon times, where evidence of a Saxon cruciform church can be found in the north of the chancel, in the form of a tower. Other features can be found in arcade between the current nave and the north aisle as it occupies the site of the Saxon church.

The priory was formed between the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th century by Sir Ralph Mainwaring as a house of Augustinian canons. The priory was a subordinate to the priory of West Acre. It was dissolved in 1314.

The remains of the priory include large sections of wall such as that of the north wall of the choir, walls of the presbytery. A section of the north transept can be seen, some of the north range is still visable along with walls of the cloisters.

Kett's Castle (Chapel of St Michael on the mount)

A couple of weeks ago I visited Kett's heights, Thorpe Hamlet on the edge of the city centre. There have been many uses of this site over the years from alotments to parkland to camp site of a rebelious mob. I became interested in this site after a discussion with a friend regarding a photo he had taken of the site. In the photo were some flint walls. The reason for my interest is that I had read an article and had knowledge of there being religious buildings on this site from around the 11th Century. I had heard and researched St Leonard's Priory. I will not go into this monastic house in detail here as I will post this seperately.

Please visit the blog of my friend to view the photos that started my interest in this area of the city. http://eastscapes.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/on-top-of-city-ketts-heights.html

Having visited the site and walking around it for a few minutes I cam across what I was looking for. I found the old flints walls which mark the location of the Chapel of St Michael on the mount. In the late 11th Century Bishop Herbert De Losinga, the first bishop of Norwich, embarked upon building the Cathedral and in the process several Anglo-Saxon churches were demolished, one such church was St. Michael's. So as to build bridges and make amends with the Ango-Saxon population Bishop Herbert had a small chapel built on the mount and called it St. Michael's. The chapel was cared for and managed by the monks from St Leonard's, with their duties including daily services at the chapel.

Around 400 years later, St Michael's chapel fell into disuse as a chapel. However is 1549 during the rebellion lead by Robert Kett the Chapel of St. Michael was used again. This time it was used as the headquarters for Kett's campaign against the city. Using the remains of the chapel on the mount as his 'castle' it gave him a great vantage point to view what was going on in the city below him.