Gresham Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: TG16663807
Latitude 52.89643° Longitude 1.21978°

Gresham Castle has been described as a certain Fortified Manor House.

There are masonry footings remains.

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

Description

Fortified medieval manor house with moat. Portions of the outer wall remain as well as foundations, all neglected and overgrown. Probably C15th, resembling nearby Baconsthorpe Hall.
Castle, now ruinous. Medieval; licence to fortify granted in 1319. Flint. Plan, square with corner turrets. Moated site. Walls now 1.0m - 3.0m high. Circa 40 metres square with corner turrets c10m diameter, these at north east, north west and south west visible. Inside the walls now overgrown, the wall now a retaining wall for earth inside. Grade II (Listed Building Report).
Moat cleaned out 1846. Massive timbers of old drawbridge, keel of boat and pottery found. Also entrance to subterranean passage.
Nothing now stands to a substantial height and everything is swamped with trees, bushes and nettles. A licence to crenellate was granted in 1319 to Sir Edmund Bacon (Pevsner).
Impossible to penetrate the island due to a dense covering of brambles, briars and undergrowth. The published walls and corner bastions are visible from without, and consist entirely of flint (F1 BHS 22-SEP-69).
It was captured from Sir John Paston by Lord Moleyns in 1450 in a private quarrel, although not seriously defended (King 1983). (PastScape)

Licence to fortify granted by Edward II to Sir Edmund Bacon in 1319, but earlier castle of De Stuteville family stood on site. Bacon's castle was 40m or 130 feet square with a round tower 11m or 36 feet in diameter in each corner.
Castle was later possessed by the Pastons and held by Mary Paston from 1448 to 50.
1844 moat cleaned out; old drawbridge, keel of boat, pottery, and 'entrance to a subterranean passage' found. (Norfolk HER)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1318 Nov 4 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1004022, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number nf111
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1049530
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 131951.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 6620.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
Books
- Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 245, 359
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 58
  Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 108
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 160
  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. 307
  Wilton, J.W., 1979, Earthworks and Fortifications of Norfolk (Weathercock Press) p. 24
  Pevsner, N., 1962, Buildings of England: Norwich and north-east Norfolk p. 155
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 1 p. 301 online copy
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 407 online copy
  Blomefield, F., 1808, 'North Erpingham Hundred: Gresham' An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk Vol. 8 p. 126-9 (tenurial history) online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Cozens-Hardy, 1958-61, Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 32 p. 180
  1936, Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 26 p. 13-14
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Myers, A.R. (ed), 1969, English Historical Documents Vol. 4 1327-1485 p. 1225-7 (assault of 1448)
  Davis, N. (ed), 1958, The Paston Letters (Clarendon Press) p. 9
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1903, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward II (1317-21) Vol. 3 p. 224 online copy

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.

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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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