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Castle Acre Town Defences

In the civil parish of Castle Acre. In the historic county of Norfolk (Modern Authority of Norfolk, 1974 county of Norfolk).

This site has been described as a;
Urban Defence.
  Confidence: This site was certainly a medieval fortification or palace.   Masonry ruins/remnants remains.
The remains of the defensive works which enclosed the area of the Norman town to the west of Castle Acre Castle, and the gatehouse which guarded the northern entry to the town. The town was enclosed by a ditch and an internal bank surmounted by a wall, with gates on the north and south sides. The bank and ditch on the west side and along much of the south side survive as substantial earthworks, known as Dyke Hills. Little remains standing of the town wall except the eastern end on the south side, but other remains are likely to survive beneath the ground. Broken stubs of the wall can also be seen on the eastern side of the partly ruined northern gate, known as the Bailey Gate, which stands at the northern end of Bailey Street. This is massively built of mortared flint with stone dressings and, although now roofless, still stands to full height, with twin drum towers fronting recessed inner and outer arches.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law. This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 221868)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TF81891510

Air Photo from multimap logo

Air Photo and general mapping

1st edition OS Map from old maps logo

Mid to late 19th century maps

Modern Map from Ordnance Survey logo

Landscape form and features

Modern Map from streetmap logo

General location and route planning

Geograph British Isles geography.org.uk logo
occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 1157103
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 43123 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English Heritage and other individuals and organisations. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes. I do not receive any income from this site and I fund it myself.
The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from any site without proper recording and reporting. Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.
Please help me to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting me if you see errors or if you can add information.
I do acknowledge the help I get with this site.
*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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This record last updated on Wednesday, October 28, 2009

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