Castle Rising town defences (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Risinge

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

OS Map Grid Reference: TF665245
Latitude 52.79336° Longitude 0.46910°

Castle Rising town defences has been described as a Urban Defence although is doubtful that it was such.

There are uncertain remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Listed by Creighton (2006) as a fortified medieval town with defences of earthworks.

The earthwork and structural remains of Castle Rising Castle, founded in around 1140 by William de Albini II, are located to the south of the village of Castle Rising in Norfolk. Pre-dating the castle, however, are the below ground remains of a Saxon settlement and a ruined church, which may have been the parish church prior to the 12th century. Situated in the central enclosure, to the north of the keep, the church has three bays, two blocked doorways and two round headed windows. (PastScape)

Comments

The modern and medieval village lay to the north of the castle but the Saxon manorial complex probably lay where the castle was built.
The Norfolk HER online record does, in a long list of monument types associated with its record for the castle, include "TOWN DEFENCES (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)".
What does Creighton mean? There do not seem to be any defences of the medieval town; the outer baileys are not large enough to have been even a partial town defence. The Saxon settlement may have been lightly defended but this seems to have been a manorial complex with church rather than a village.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1008356, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 21329
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 356450.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 3307.

Periodical Articles
- Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86

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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.

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