Marham Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Hills and Holes

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

OS Map Grid Reference: TF70530955
Latitude 52.65667° Longitude 0.51981°

Marham Castle has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Rectangular moated site which has been identified as the site of the fortified manor known as Marham Castle. The moated site has maximum overall dimensions of 80m north west-south east by 77m north east-south west. The moat surrounds a central platform on which are the remains of a substantial building. The line of a circuit wall is indicated by low banks, consisting largely of chalk rubble and containing fragments of clay roof tile and other building materials, which enclose a rectangular area with internal dimensions of 30 metres by 20 metres. Mounds up to 1.5m in height, projecting externally at the four corners of this enclosure, mark the location of what were probably turrets. (PastScape)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1271 June 9 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1009983, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 20820
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1091534.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 11462; 13644.

Books
- Charles Coulson, 2003, Castles in Medieval Society (OUP; Oxford) p. 131-3, 135, 140, 173, 324
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 58
  Liddiard, R., 2000, Landscapes of Lordship (British Archaeological Reports British Series 309) p. 109n17
  Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) (Shown on map of fortified houses of East Anglia)
  Rogerson, Andrew, 1994, 'Castles' in Wade-Martins, P, (ed), An Historical Atlas of Norfolk (2edn Norwich; Norfolk Museums) p. 68-9
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 309
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 403 online copy
  Blomefield, Francis, 1807, 'Clackclose Hundred and Half: Marham' An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk Vol. 7 p. 378-9 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Leah, Mark, Mathews, Margaret and Davison, Alan, 1997, 'A Survey of the Earthworks at Hills and Holes Plantation, Marham, Norfolk' Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 42 p. 506-11
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1913, Calendar of Patent Rolls Henry III (1266-72) Vol. 6 p. 540 online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1904, Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem Vol. 1 no. 329, 1089

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.

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