GATEHOUSE
The comprehensive gazetteer and bibliography of the medieval castles, fortifications and palaces of England, Wales, the Islands.
 
 
Home
The listings
Other Info
Books
Links
Downloads
Contact
 
Print Page 
 
Next Record 
Previous Record 
Back to list 

New Buckenham Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Bukenham; Bukeham

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

OS Map Grid Reference: TM08429041
Latitude 52.47170° Longitude 1.06771°

New Buckenham Castle has been described as a certain Timber Castle, and also as a certain Masonry Castle.

There are masonry footings remains.

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

Description

Remains of castle earthworks, moat and keep. Built circa 1145-50 by William II de Albini to replace Old Buckenham Castle. It comprises an inner bailey and two outer baileys, all with earth walls. The circular keep is the earliest in England. Its walls are 11ft thick at the foot and the total height of the keep may have been as much as 40ft. The castle was demolished in the 1640's by the then owner (Sir Philip Knyvet) perhaps at the request of Parliament. The earliest castle seems to have been a simple ringwork 200 ft across with an oval outer enclosure (or bailey) to the East, defended by a bank and ditch. Later, the ditch of the ringmotte was widened and the bank thereof correspondingly raised, burying a stone gatehouse beside the keep, and a new entrance was made (on the opposite side) from a new bailey to the SW. Nothing remains above the ground storey. There is evidence of a second bailey to the South-West. (PastScape)
Comments

The round keep is flint built. There is a traditional of circular church towers in this part of Norfolk dating back to pre-Conquest Saxon and, in all likelihood, this represents the economic necessity of reducing the expensive ashlar stone work required for corners and pilasters in an area where there is no readily available quality building stone rather than some defense innovation designed to reduce vulnerable corners. (NB since writing this I have become aware that Charles Coulson expressed, in 1994, the same idea of economic necessity being the reason for the round tower. It is possibly I had seen Coulson's work but failed to remember the source.)
NB The castle is in Old Buckenham CP Parish although New Buckenham town in New Buckenham CP, This does seem a rather unfortunate choice of boundary not reflecting either the medieval or modern connection between castle and village.
Links to archaeological and architectural databases, mapping and other online resources

Data >
PastScape   County HER   Scheduling   Listing   I. O. E.
Maps >
Streetmap   NLS maps   Where's the path   Old-Maps      
Data/Maps > 
Magic   V. O. B.   Geology   LiDAR   Open Domesday  
Air Photos > 
Bing Maps   Google Maps   Getmapping   ZoomEarth      
Photos >
CastleFacts   Geograph   Flickr   Panoramio      

Sources of information, references and further reading
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.
This record last updated 26/07/2017 09:20:06
Home | Books | Links | Fortifications and Castles | Other Information | Help | Downloads | Author Information | Contact
¤¤¤¤¤