Wormegay_Castle

Wormegay Castle

Wormegay Castle

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Wormegay Castle is a motte and bailey earthwork, located next to the village of Wormegay in the English county of Norfolk.

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The castle was probably built by Hermer de Ferrers after the Norman Conquest, and remained in the de Ferrers family until 1166.[1] The motte is 5 metres high and 77 metres by 62 metres wide at the base.[2] The motte is surrounded on three sides by a ditch up to 15 metres wide and 2 metres deep.[2] The bailey is 150 metres by 88 metres across, and raised about 1 metre from the ground.[2] The castle would have been highly visible in early medieval times, more so than in the 21st century, and would have formed a local landmark as well as controlling the local causeway across the Fens.[3] Wormegay formed the centre, or the caput, for an honour of feudal properties across East Anglia.[4] As the centre of a major estate, Wormegay provided castle-guard duties to Norwich Castle.[5]

See also

Bibliography

  • Liddiard, Robert. (2000) Landscapes of lordship: Norman castles and the countryside in medieval Norfolk, 1066-1200. Archaeopress. ISBN 978-1-84171-156-0.
  • Pounds, Norman John Greville. (1994) The Medieval Castle in England and Wales: a social and political history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-45828-3.

References

  1. [1]
    Liddiard, p.75; Wormegay Castle, Gatehouse website, accessed 26 April 2011.
  2. [2]
    Wormegay Castle, Gatehouse website, accessed 26 April 2011.
  3. [3]
    Liddiard, p.160; Wormegay Castle, Gatehouse website, accessed 26 April 2011.
  4. [4]
    Pounds, p.131.
  5. [5]
    Liddiard, p.75.
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