Castle Rising is a ruined medieval fortification in the village of Castle Rising, Norfolk, England. It was built soon after 1138 by William d'Aubigny II, who had risen through the ranks of the Anglo-Norman nobility to become the Earl of Arundel. With his new wealth, he constructed Castle Rising and its surrounding deer park, a combination of fortress and palatial hunting lodge. It was inherited by William's descendants before passing into the hands of the de Montalt family in 1243. The Montalts later sold the castle to Queen Isabella, who lived there after her fall from power in 1330. Isabella extended the castle buildings and enjoyed a regal lifestyle, entertaining her son, Edward III, on several occasions. After her death, it was granted to Edward, the Black Prince, to form part of the Duchy of Cornwall.
During the 15th century, the castle became increasingly valued for its hunting facilities rather than its military defences. It fell into disrepair and, despite the construction of new living quarters and service facilities, by the middle of the 16th century it was derelict. Henry VIII sold the property to Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, and most of the castle buildings were demolished. It was not until the 19th century, when Mary and Fulke Greville Howard inherited the property, that the castle was renovated and restored. Victorian scholars examined the site, and it was opened to the public. In 1958 the castle passed into the custody of the state, which carried out further stabilisation work and a programme of archaeological investigation. In 1998 English Heritage passed the management of the site back to its current owner, Baron Howard of Rising, who continues to operate the castle as a tourist attraction.
Castle Rising comprises three baileys, each defended by large earthworks, covering a total area of 5 hectares (12 acres), which archaeologists Oliver Creighton and Robert Higham consider to be among the most impressive in Britain. In the inner bailey is the great keep, probably modelled on that of Norwich Castle. It features extensive Romanesque designs, including pilaster buttresses and arcading. Historians Beric Morley and David Gurney believe this to be "one of the finest of all Norman keeps", and its military utility and political symbolism have been extensively discussed by academics. The castle was originally surrounded by a carefully managed landscape, from the planned town in front of the castle, to the deer park and rabbit warrens that stretched out behind it, intended to be viewed from the lord's chamber in the great keep.
History
12th – 13th centuries
Castle Rising was built soon after 1138 by William d'Aubigny II, an upwardly mobile Anglo-Norman noble who owned the surrounding manor of Snettisham. William married Adeliza of Louvain, the widow of King Henry I in that year, and became the Earl of Arundel in 1139. This transformed his social position, and one chronicler at Waltham Holy Cross complained how he "became intolerably puffed up ... and looked down upon every other eminence in the world except the King". With his new wealth, William built Castle Rising and New Buckenham Castle in Norfolk, and expanded Arundel Castle in West Sussex.
The castle was located 5 miles (8.0 km) from the port of King's Lynn. In the 12th century it would have typically have been reached by boat, through a channel in the marshy Babingley River that ran nearby. Following the Norman Conquest of England, the land had been granted to Bishop Odo, the Earl of Kent, who may have used it as an administrative centre; there were many Saxo-Norman buildings on the site of the later castle. Although Norfolk was a prosperous region during this period, the location of the castle was not strategically important: its only militarily significance would have been as a regional muster point, and the surrounding lands were thinly populated, with poor, acidic agricultural soil. The attraction of the site to William is believed to have been that it was a relatively cheap and easy place in which to build a substantial new building and establish a large hunting park. Historian Richard Hulme argues that William essentially built "a palatial hunting lodge" on the site.
Massive resources were required to construct Castle Rising, which included three baileys with large earthwork defences and a stone keep, with an adjacent deer park just behind the castle. As part of the project, the existing settlement was moved away to the north, where it became a planned settlement adjacent to the new castle. A pre-existing Norman chapel on the site, built around 1100, was encircled by the castle defences, and the new parish church of St Lawrence was built in the town instead, although it is possible that this church also pre-dates the castle. William received permission from King Stephen to open a mint at the castle in 1145 and, probably linked to this development, settled a community of Jews in the town.
It is uncertain how often William actually stayed at his new castle. He and his wife probably preferred to reside in their estates around Arundel in the south of England, and both William and his descendants chose New Buckenham Castle, rather than Castle Rising, to serve as the caput, or main castle, for their Norfolk landholdings.
A prolonged civil war known as the Anarchy broke out in England from 1138 until 1154, between the followers of King Stephen and the Empress Matilda, only ending when Matilda's son, Henry II, finally inherited the kingdom. Despite William having backed Stephen during the war, after the end of the conflict he proved a loyal supporter of Henry and was allowed to retain his possessions. Henry clamped down on the operation of the regional mints, however, and closed the facility at Castle Rising; the local Jews resettled in King's Lynn. A second, rapid phase of construction work on the castle then occurred, probably in the 1170s in response to a major rebellion against Henry II. William supported the King, and fought against the rebels at the Battle of Fornham in neighbouring Suffolk. Around this time the height of the earth defences was doubled and the internal level of the west bailey raised to form a platform.
The castle was inherited by William d'Albini III, and in turn by his son, William IV, and grandson, William V. William V died in 1224, leaving it to his brother Hugh. Probably by this time the chapel inside the castle walls had fallen out of use as a religious building, and was instead employed for secular purposes. The top 3.7 metres (12 ft) of the keep's walls are distinctively different from the rest of the building, and one theory to explain this is that the castle keep was not in fact completed during William II's lifetime, and that the final work on walls was carried out between 1200 and 1230 by his descendants. Hugh died childless in 1243, and the castle then passed to Roger de Montalt.
14th century
The Montalts were a prominent baronial family, but they had few other estates in the region and their family fortunes declined. In 1327, Roger de Montalt's younger brother, Robert, who was childless, sold the reversion of his rights in the castle to the Crown in 1327 for 10,000 marks – effectively selling it to the Crown with a life-time lease for him and his wife Emma. An alternative theory to explain the different style of stonework along the top of the keep is that the building was completed under William d'Albini II, but had become dilapidated by the start of the 14th century, requiring extensive repairs by Robert. The forebuilding of the keep was raised in height at one end around this time and a new, peaked roof added to it, and an imposing, timber-framed, brick kitchen was built in the inner bailey.
At the time of Robert's agreement with the Crown, the government of England was controlled by Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabella of France, who was ruling as regent in the name of her young son, Edward III. Isabella fell from power when Edward toppled Mortimer in a coup d'état in 1330, but after a short period of house arrest she led a relatively normal life, enjoying considerable status as the King's mother. Edward granted Isabella several royal castles in England, including Castle Rising. Robert had died in 1329 and in 1331 Emma sold her rights to the castle to Isabella for £400.
From then on, Isabella used Castle Rising as one of her main residences until her death in 1358. Isabella was a wealthy woman, as the King granted her a yearly income of £3,000, which by 1337 had increased to £4,000. She enjoyed a regal lifestyle in Norfolk, maintaining minstrels, huntsmen and grooms, and received visits from Edward and the royal household on at least four occasions. Despite her large income, Isabella ran up long-standing debts with the local merchants near the castle. Around the time that she took over the castle, a new set of buildings was constructed in the central bailey, including a west range containing a residential suite, a new private chapel, and a south range linking to various service buildings; the existing kitchen was reused. The great hall was reroofed, although Isabella lived in the west range, using the keep only for formal occasions or as accommodation for very senior guests. A brick wall around the outside of the inner bailey may have been built around this time to provide additional security.
The castle then passed to Isabella's grandson, Edward the Black Prince. Edward III had decreed in 1337 that his son would inherit the castle after Isabella's death, complete with the surrounding manor and the right to part of the tolls from King's Lynn, although these brought in only a relatively modest £100 a year. As part of this arrangement, the King declared the castle to be a permanent part of the Duchy of Cornwall, an estate traditionally assigned for the use of the Prince of Wales. The Prince undertook repairs to the castle during the 1360s, including spending £81 on repairing the "Nightegale Tower" in 1365, although it is uncertain which part of the castle this refers to. The Prince died in 1376, returning the Duchy of Cornwall to the control of the Crown, and during this time Castle Rising appears to have been maintained in good condition. It was ordered on several occasions during the 1380s to raise local forces to counter the threat of a French invasion, and may have been equipped with two cannons. If not built by Isabella, the brick wall around the inner bailey may have been constructed during this period.
Under Richard II, the rights to the castle changed hands several times, despite Edward's charter having made it a permanent part of the Duchy. Richard's government gave the castle to John, the Duke of Brittany, in 1378, in exchange for the Château de Brest. Richard subsequently gave the reversion of the castle first to his uncle Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, in 1386, and then to another uncle, Edmund, Duke of York in 1397. Shortly after Richard was overthrown, the courts declared these grants to have been illegal, and returned the castle to the Duchy in 1403, then in the possession of the future Henry V.
15th – 18th centuries
In the 15th and early 16th centuries, Castle Rising continued to be owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. Although the castle's military defences were mobilised by Henry VI in 1461 during the Wars of the Roses, it became increasingly more prominent as a hunting facility. The role of the constable of the castle was often combined with that of the surveyor or ranger of Rising Chase, the parkland around the castle. The castle may have been a prestigious location during this period, although its facilities were not as extensive as those of other castles and manors known for their hunting. Senior visitors to the castle included Mary Tudor, Queen of France, and Charles Brandon, the Duke of Suffolk, and its constables included nobles such as Lord Ralph de Cromwell and John de Vere, the Earl of Oxford.
Minor repairs on the castle were carried out during the period, including to the castle bridge, but the state of the property gradually declined. The old kitchens were removed in the early 15th century, and a new, larger facility constructed in their place. Once built, however, the new kitchens, along with the rest of the buildings in the inner bailey, were left to deteriorate. Reports in 1482 stated that the buildings were no longer weatherproof, and a survey carried around between 1503 and 1506 described the castle as "evyll repayred", and noted that the roof of the keep was rotten. This last survey urged that existing repair works on the buildings in the bailey be completed, but suggested that it might not be worth repairing the keep because of the excessive cost.
Despite these challenges, fresh construction work was carried out around this time. The southern range and the kitchen were pulled down, and replaced with a new set of lodgings for guests, complete with stables, although the resulting buildings were not particularly robust. Problems reappeared, and a survey between 1542 and 1543 noted that, with the exception of the new lodgings, the castle was in "greate ruin and decaye". The roof of the keep had by now collapsed, as probably had the floors of the great hall and chamber. The survey costed the necessary repairs to the crumbling walls around the inner bailey at £100. At around this time, the forebuilding of the keep was adapted to form a separate, smaller, set of chambers, and at some point after this a passageway was dug out of the walls to link these to the kitchens in the keep, by-passing the now floor-less rooms of the keep.
In 1544 Henry VIII bequeathed the castle to Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, but the property continued to decline. By the 1570s the castle and its earthworks had been allowed to become infested with rabbits, whose warrens caused extensive damage; a survey suggested that fully renovating the castle would cost £2,000, and that even if it were pulled down and sold for the value of its materials, it would only realise £66. At the end of the century, the inner bailey was finally cleared of most of its buildings; the new lodgings were pulled down, along with most of the west range and the old Norman chapel, leaving only the ruined keep, alongside the latrines and the newer chapel, although what these last two were then used for is uncertain. The foundations of the old chapel were slowly covered up by the earth defences.