Castle Acre Castle and Priory
Castle Acre Castle and Priory
The delightful village of Castle Acre boasts an extraordinary wealth of history and is a very rare and complete survival of a Norman planned settlement, including a castle, town, parish church and associated monastery. All this is the work of a great Norman baronial family, the Warennes, mainly during the 11th and 12th centuries.
Castle
The castle was founded soon after the Conquest by the first William de Warenne and you can still view an immense system of ditched earthwortks – perhaps the finest village earthworks in England.
Castle Acre came into the possession of William I de Warenne, a close associate of William the Conqueror, in the 1070s. Within three generations the Warennes had created the castle, surrounded the town with massive ramparts and established its famous Cluniac priory. Remarkably, all three survive in recognisable form, and together give an unrivalled impression of the physical, social and religious impact of the Norman Conquest. The castle itself is particularly important for the form and development of its defences and of the stone building in the inner bailey.
The Bailey Gate is a survivor of the original ditched earthwork defences with stone gates with the main road into the village still running between its towers.
Priory
This important Norfolk visitor attraction is one of the largest and best preserved monastic sites in England dating back to 1090. It was the home of the first Cluniac order of monks to England and the Cluniac love of decoration is everywhere reflected in the extensive ruins.
There is much to see at the priory, including the beautiful west end church gable, prior’s lodging and substantial remains of many of the buildings round the cloister. The recreated herb garden grows herbs which the monks would have used for medicinal, culinary and decorative purposes. Visitors can find out more about this beautiful priory from our exhibition, display of artefacts and audio tour.