Pismere Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Piswell Castle

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

OS Map Grid Reference: TM43128940
Latitude 52.44870° Longitude 1.57654°

Pismere Castle has been described as a Fortified Manor House although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Suffolk HER record of possible medieval castle or manor house.

Pismere Castle, recorded in dissolution and manorial documents (S1).
Castle Farm (Listed Building, farmhouse and folly of circa 1800) shown on 1880s OS map at TM 4312 8940 on Castle Lane (now Coney Hill).
Pesmere Mere on estate map of 1630 - drained later in 17th century. Site of mere could be (?) area of 1 acre shown on tithe map off Banham Road (on top of ridge, S of Beccles) where symmetrical rough ground (note road to NW named Castle Hill).
Pismere/Piswell Castle was a sub-manor of Beccles - in 1657 owned by Robert Yallop; circa 1800 owned by Robert Sparrow (annexed to Worlingham Manor)(S2), then to Archibald 2nd Earl of Gosford (by marriage).
Other dates recorded in Suffolk Record Office (Lowestoft)? (Suffolk HER)

Comments

Site now built over, even the road has changed its name from Castle Lane, on 1st edn OS map, to Coney Hill (although a Castle Hill road name exists slightly to the north). The map reference given is for Castle Farmhouse, an early C19 house with a circular castellated tower. The castle place-name seems to be earlier than this building and presumably, the building takes its name and architectural fancy from the earlier place-name, although it may well not be on the site of the medieval manor house, although nothing on the 1890 map would suggest an alternative site, indeed a narrow linear pond shown by the farm might be a relic of a moat. What the actual form of the medieval manor house was is unknown but, given this was a small sub-manor, unlikely to have been anything other than a modest moated house - indeed the name of the manor (which has disappeared from modern maps), which in latin could be translated as horse piss, and even in Saxon english was not much more pleasant, does suggest an ironic use of the term castle. The Suffolk HER does record that there was a mere (lake) hereabouts.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1398867
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) BCC Misc.

Books
- Goult, W., 1990, A Survey of Suffolk Parish History
  Copinger, W.A.,1911, Manors of Suffolk Vol. 7 p. 161 online copy

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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.
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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.

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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