Castle Rising Castle

The day after our Oxburgh Hall trip, we drove up to Castle Rising Castle. I know it sounds repetitive, but the town is called Castle Rising, so the castle in the town is Castle Rising Castle.

Castle Rising Castle is a 12th century castle built around 1140 by William d’Albini, who married Henry I’s widow. The castle isn’t fully intact (the main roof is gone), but the walls are fully intact, and you can still walk through the different floors.

We paid for the audio tour, since most of the signs didn’t have a lot of detail, we were told. The audio tour was largely told from the point of view of Queen Isabella, mother of Edward III, who came here after being accused of having a hand in the murder of her husband, Edward II. She wasn’t technically under house arrest, but being here also meant she was too far from the court to have any real influence.

One thing Castle Rising Castle is particularly known for is the large earthworks surrounding the keep. The great earthworks which form the whole site and extent of the castle, cover an area of between 12 and 13 acres and comprise a main central enclose, or inner bailey, and two lesser outworks respectively to east and west. The central enclosure, in shape something between a circle and an oval, is far and away the strongest, with it banks, even now after the cumulative and combined effects of erosion and in-filling, rising to a height of some 18 meters.

I’m always impressed with the detail on the stonework, and how it can stand the test of time.

The staircase upon entering was also impressive. The archways are still intact, and you can still see the details carved into the stone.

We had to walk through a little doorway to get to the staircase for the inside of the castle. I’m always amused by how much shorter they were centuries ago. It makes me feel humungous though!

The audio tour was really nice to have, because otherwise you could probably walk through the castle in half the time. It was also interesting to hear what Queen Isabella’s perspective may have been. The castle is in a very pretty area, but it’s very quiet and somewhat remote as well. Despite the fact that she had frequent visitors, it probably was pretty quiet the rest of the time.

After the castle, we drove to Castle Acre, which isn’t too far away. We wanted to see the priory there, but we didn’t have enough time before they closed for the day. So we went to a tearoom for tea and sandwiches. As usual, it was all delicious. 🙂 Andrew also got some loose tea leaves and a tea strainer to make tea at home. Then we walked to the old Bailey Gate in Castle Acre, which led us to the pedestrian trail to get to Castle Acre Castle.

There really isn’t much left of Castle Acre Castle:

It was still nice to walk around, it it seems like families generally come here to do just that. We saw a few people with their dogs, and those pups just loved running in the grass unleashed! 🙂 We walked around to read all the different signs, and it’s fun to imagine what it might have looked like here centuries ago. It’s just sad when these places fall into ruin.