Baconsthorpe Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Baconsthorpe.
In the historic county of Norfolk.
Modern Authority of Norfolk.
1974 county of Norfolk.
Medieval County of Norfolk.

OS Map Grid Reference: TG121381
Latitude 52.89909° Longitude 1.15211°

Baconsthorpe Castle has been described as a certain Fortified Manor House.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

The remains of a moated site and fortified house known as Baconsthorpe Castle. Baconsthorpe Castle is built on what is thought to have been the site of the earlier manor of Wood Hall. The fortified house was built during the middle and later 15th century. The outer gatehouse and courtyards, with associated barn, were built during the following century. Alterations to the house were carried out in the early 17th century by Sir Christopher Heydon II, but by this time the fortunes of the family were in decline, and in the mid 17th century most of the buildings on the moated site were demolished and the gatehouse and outer walls were dismantled. After the demolition, the outer gatehouse was converted for use as a dwelling, known as Baconsthorpe Hall. Today, the site is managed by English Heritage. The remains of the fortified house occupy a roughly square platform 65 metres across, surrounded on the south, west and north sides by a water-filled moat between 13-15 metres wide. The standing remains of the house on the central island include a surrounding curtain wall rising above the inner edges of the moat, a gatehouse on the southern side, and a range of buildings along the southern part of the inner face of the wall on the east side. The walls of the house and associated structures have a core of mortared flint rubble with stone and brick dressings. (PastScape)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1561 Nov 24 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1013093, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 21386
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1049845
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 131989.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 6561.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- English Heritage
  Norman.Walsh.name
  Great Castles (photo gallery)
  CastlesFortsBattle.co.uk
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
Books
- Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 359
  Cushion, B. and Davison, A., 2003, Earthworks of Norfolk (Dereham: East Anglian Archaeology 104) p. 162-5 (plan)
  Dallas, Carolyn and Sherlock, David, 2002, Baconsthorpe Castle, Excavations and Finds, 1951-1972 (Dereham: East Anglian Archaeology 102) download
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 42-4
  Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 49
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 154-5
  Rogerson, Andrew, 1994, 'Castles' in Wade-Martins, P, (ed), An Historical Atlas of Norfolk (2edn Norwich; Norfolk Museums) p. 68-9
  Kent, Peter, 1988, Fortifications of East Anglia (Lavenham: Ternence Dalton) p. 175
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 310
  Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p. 181
  Wilton, J.W., 1979, Earthworks and Fortifications of Norfolk (Weathercock Press) p. 24
  Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1962, The Buildings of England: Norfolk: North-West and South (Penguin) p. 80
  Lord Harlech, 1955, Ancient Monuments Vol. 3 - East Anglia and the Midlands (HMSO) p. 43, 72
  Blomefield, F., 1807, 'Hundred of South Erpingham: Baconsthorp' An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk Vol. 6 p. 502-13 (tenurial history) online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Coulson, Charles, 1993 Aug, 'Specimens of Freedom to Crenellate by Licence' Fortress: The castles and fortifications quarterly Vol. 18 p. 3-15 (reprinted in Liddiard, Robert (ed), 2016, Late Medieval Castles (Boydell Press) p. 221-240)
  Kenyon, J.R., 1981 'Early Artillery Fortifications in England and Wales: a Preliminary Survey and Re-appraisal' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 138 p. 226-7
  Rigold, S., 1980, 'Baconsthorpe Castle' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 137 p. 331-2
  Kenyon, J.R., 1977, 'Early Gunports' Fort Vol. 4 p. 76
  Cozens-Hardy, 1958-61, Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 32 p. 166-7
  1932, Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 24 p. lix-lxi
Guidebooks
- Rigold, S., 1966, Baconsthorpe Castle (HMSO)
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1948, Calendar of Patent Rolls Elizabeth (1560-63) Vol. 2 p. 219
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 315
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1908, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 2 p. 11 online copy

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.
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.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. 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.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*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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