| Mettingham Castle | |
|---|---|
| Mettingham, Suffolk | |
 Gatehouse of Mettingham Castle | |
  Mettingham Castle | |
| Coordinates | 52°26′41″N1°28′17″E / 52.4448°N 1.4714°E Coordinates: 52°26′41″N1°28′17″E / 52.4448°N 1.4714°E |
| Type | Fortified manor house |
| Site information | |
| Owner | Private |
| Open to the public | Yes, on selected days |
| Condition | Ruined |
| Site history | |
| Materials | Stone |
Mettingham Castle was a fortified manor house in the parish of Mettingham in the north of the English county of Suffolk.
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. [1] 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. [2] Another moated court was later built to the south. [2] An Edwardian style gatehouse formed the entrance to the castle and supplemented a stone wall that surrounded the property. [3] By 1562, there were "stables, servants' lodgings, kitchen, bakehouse, brewhouse, malting house, storehouses, and an aisled hall" within the castle walls. [4]
The castle remained in Sir John's family until 1394, when it was given to a college of secular canons from nearby Norton, who established Mettingham College on the small moated court within the castle. [5] The monks taught up to 13 boys at the castle. [6] After the dissolution of the monasteries the property was sold off to a sequence of private owners after 1542. [1] 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. [7]
Today the site is a scheduled monument and a grade 2 listed building; the gatehouse still survives, as do some of the stone walls and many of the surrounding moats and earthworks. [8] In the 21st century a major renovation project occurred at the castle to repair the worsening damage, involving a grant of £330,000 by English Heritage. [6]
Bodiam Castle is a 14th-century moated castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex, England. It was built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a former knight of Edward III, with the permission of Richard II, ostensibly to defend the area against French invasion during the Hundred Years' War. Of quadrangular plan, Bodiam Castle has no keep, having its various chambers built around the outer defensive walls and inner courts. Its corners and entrance are marked by towers, and topped by crenellations. Its structure, details and situation in an artificial watery landscape indicate that display was an important aspect of the castle's design as well as defence. It was the home of the Dalyngrigge family and the centre of the manor of Bodiam.
Donnington Castle is a ruined medieval castle, situated in the small village of Donnington, just north of the town of Newbury in the English county of Berkshire. It was founded by Sir Richard Abberbury the Elder in 1386 and was bought by Thomas Chaucer before the castle was taken under royal control during the Tudor period. During the First English Civil War the castle was held by the royalist Sir John Boys and withstood an 18-month siege; after the garrison eventually surrendered, Parliament voted to demolish Donnington Castle in 1646. Only the gatehouse survives. The site is under the care of English Heritage and is protected from unauthorised change as a scheduled ancient monument.
Kirby Muxloe Castle, also known historically as Kirby Castle, is a ruined, fortified manor house in Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire, England. William, Lord Hastings, began work on the castle in 1480, founding it on the site of a pre-existing manor house. William was a favourite of King Edward IV and had prospered considerably during the Wars of the Roses. Work continued quickly until 1483, when William was executed during Richard, Duke of Gloucester's, seizure of the throne. His widow briefly continued the project after his death but efforts then ceased, with the castle remaining largely incomplete. Parts of the castle were inhabited for a period, before falling into ruin during the course of the 17th century. In 1912, the Commissioners of Work took over management of the site, repairing the brickwork and carrying out an archaeological survey. In the 21st century, the castle is controlled by English Heritage and open to visitors.
Baconsthorpe Castle, historically known as Baconsthorpe Hall, is a ruined, fortified manor house near the village of Baconsthorpe, Norfolk, England. It was established in the 15th century on the site of a former manor hall, probably by John Heydon I and his father, William. John was an ambitious lawyer with many enemies, and built a tall, fortified house, but his descendants became wealthy sheep farmers and, less worried about any attack, developed the property into a more elegant, courtyard house, complete with a nearby deer park.
Clare Castle is a high-mounted ruinous medieval castle in the parish and former manor of Clare in Suffolk, England, anciently the caput of a feudal barony. It was built shortly after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 by Richard Fitz Gilbert, having high motte and bailey and later improved in stone. In the 14th century it was the seat of Elizabeth de Clare, one of the wealthiest women in England, who maintained a substantial household there. The castle passed into the hands of the Crown and by 1600 was disused. The ruins are an unusually tall earthen motte surmounted by tall remnants of a wall and of the round tower, with large grassland or near-rubble gaps on several of their sides. It was damaged by an alternate line of the Great Eastern Railway in 1867, the rails of which have been removed.
Weeting Castle is a ruined, medieval manor house near the village of Weeting in Norfolk, England. It was built around 1180 by Hugh de Plais, and comprised a three-storey tower, a substantial hall, and a service block, with a separate kitchen positioned near the house. A moat was later dug around the site in the 13th century. The house was not fortified, although it drew on architectural features typically found in castles of the period, and instead formed a very large, high-status domestic dwelling. It was probably intended to resemble the hall at Castle Acre Castle, owned by Hugh's feudal lord, Hamelin de Warenne.
Beverston Castle, also known as Beverstone Castle or Tetbury Castle, was constructed as a medieval stone fortress in the village of Beverston, Gloucestershire, England. The property is a mix of manor house, various small buildings, extensive gardens and the medieval ruins of the fortified building. The castle was founded in 1229 by Maurice de Gaunt.
Aydon Castle, previously sometimes called Aydon Hall, is a fortified manor house at Aydon near to the town of Corbridge, Northumberland, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and is designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building.
Bridgwater Castle was a castle in the town of Bridgwater, Somerset, England.
Haughley Castle was a medieval castle situated in the village of Haughley, some 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north-west of the town of Stowmarket, Suffolk. Prominent historians such as J. Wall consider it "the most perfect earthwork of this type in the county," whilst R. Allen Brown has described it as "one of the most important" castle sites in East Anglia.
Kirkoswald Castle is located to the southeast of the village of Kirkoswald, Cumbria, England. It is built from Penrith red sandstone and is still partially standing.
Wingfield Castle in the parish of Wingfield in Suffolk, England is a fortified manor house which was the ancestral home of the Wingfield family and their heirs, the de la Pole family, created Earls and Dukes of Suffolk. It is now a private house. Sir John de Wingfield, of Wingfield, chief administrator to Edward the Black Prince (1330-1376), was the last male of his line, whose daughter and heiress Catherine Wingfield married Michael de la Pole, seated at Wingfield Castle, who in 1385 was created Earl of Suffolk. His descendant Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk (1472–1513) was forced to surrender his dukedom in 1493. It was resurrected by King Henry VIII in 1514 for his favourite Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk (1484–1545), who although he had no close connection with Wingfield Castle and the county of Suffolk, was a great-grandson of Sir Robert Wingfield, of Letheringham in Suffolk, about 12 miles south of Wingfield.
North Elmham Castle, also known as North Elmham Bishops Castle and North Elmham Bishops Chapel, is a ruined castle in the village of North Elmham, in the county of Norfolk.
Bury Castle was an early medieval moated manor house in Bury, Lancashire. Its remains are listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The manor house was built by Sir Thomas Pilkington – lord of the manors of Bury and Pilkington, and an influential member of Lancashire's gentry – in 1469. He was given permission by Edward IV to:
"'build to make and to construct walls and turrets with stone, lime and sand around and below his manor house in Bury in the County of Lancaster, and to shut in the manor house with such manner of walls and turrets; also to embattle, crenellate and machicolate those towers."
Warblington Castle or Warblington manor was a moated manor near Langstone in Havant parish, Hampshire. Most of the castle was destroyed during the English Civil War, leaving only a single gate tower, part of a wall, and a gateway. The property, now in the village of Warblington, is privately owned and does not allow for public access.
Cheveley Castle was a medieval fortified manor house near Cheveley, Cambridgeshire, England.
Beaumys Castle, also known as Beams Castle, was a 14th-century fortified manor house in the parish of Swallowfield in the English county of Berkshire.
Bletsoe Castle was a late medieval fortified manor house in the village of Bletsoe, Bedfordshire.
Caludon Castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and Grade I listed building in Coventry, in the West Midlands of England. A second moated site 190 metres (620 ft) to the south is a Scheduled Ancient Monument in its own right. The castle is now a ruin, and all that remains is a large fragment of sandstone wall. What remains of the estate is now an urban park, owned and run by Coventry City Council, but much of it was sold and developed into housing estates in the early 20th century.
Stratton Park Moated Enclosure is a scheduled ancient monument formed of a moat ditch circuit, counterscarp bank, central platform and walled garden compound located on the south-east edge of Biggleswade, Bedfordshire in the United Kingdom. Described by a 1982–83 survey of the landscape and wildlife features at Biggleswade as "one of the most exciting areas seen during the survey" and by English Heritage as "a site of regional significance", the moated enclosure consists of a number of earthwork features discovered through topographical analysis. Classified by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England as a Class A: Homestead Moat site, the moated enclosure is not currently open to the general public.