Freckenham Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Freckenham.
In the historic county of Suffolk.
Modern Authority of Suffolk.
1974 county of Suffolk.
Medieval County of Suffolk.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL66727185
Latitude 52.31953° Longitude 0.44469°

Freckenham Castle has been described as a certain Timber Castle, and also as a probable Masonry Castle, and also as a certain Palace.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Freckenham Castle. A circular chalk mound some 40 ft high with a level summit c 40 ft in circumference with no evidence of stonework; bounded on the south and east by a sunken road and on the north by a considerable ditch; between the ditch and the sunken road is an outer court. Documentary evidence confirms the existence of the Castle during the early Norman period (Morley). A motte with double bailey situated in a commanding position adjacent to an old road junction covering the main east-west highway, and above a river junction (See Brook and Kennett). Originally the castle comprised a substantial motte standing in the north-east corner of an inner bailey with an outer bailey to the north, a strong ditch sub-dividing the two. Extant remains now constitute the motte (heavily tree covered) and ditch, with traces of an outer bailey perimeter ditch to the north - now mainly occupied by a road; elsewhere all earthworks have been destroyed by either modern road and building construction or, to the west, quarrying above the river plain. An excavation has been made into the mound at TL 6671 7186 by the present owners, this has revealed the tooled corner stone of a substantial building. The corner supports a cob, flint and chalk mortar wall. Further foundations are of the same cob and flint make-up; there appears to be no intention of the excavation continuing (Field Investigators Comments–F1 FDC 19-JUL-76). (PastScape)

Comments

The manor of Feckenham may have been granted, by William I to Archbishop Lafranc, who, in turn, granted it to bishop Gandulf of Rochester. Although based on a forged C13 document this document may have been a copy of a lost document rather than a deception. The bishop of Rochester was granted a market and fair at Feckenham in the early C13. A residence of the bishop of Rochester is sometimes suggested here. The castle may have been built by the bishops to assert a claim to the manor, well outside the see of Rochester. There seems to be no other potential builder, other than the bishops of Rochester; presumably Bishop Gandulf.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1006070, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number sf30
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 377609.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) FRK 007.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 78
  Martin, Edward, 1999 (3edn), 'Medieval Castles' in Dymond, David and Martin, Edward (eds) An Historical Atlas of Suffolk (Lavenham) p. 58-9
  Flight, C., 1997, The Bishops and Monks of Rochester 1076-1214 (Maidstone: Kent Archaeological Society)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 457
  Pevsner, N., 1961, Buildings of England: Suffolk (London, Penguin) p. 202
Periodical Articles
- Morley, C., 1921, 'Freckenham, Suffolk: Notes and theories on the village and its unrecorded castle' Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History Vol. 17.3 p. 182-192 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Medway CityArk (Medway Council archives)
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Payne, Naomi, 2003, The medieval residences of the bishops of Bath and Wells, and Salisbury (PhD Thesis University of Bristol) Appendix B: List of Medieval Bishop's Palaces in England and Wales (available via EThOS)

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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.

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