Weeting Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Weting

In the civil parish of Weeting With Broomhill.
In the historic county of Norfolk.
Modern Authority of Norfolk.
1974 county of Norfolk.
Medieval County of Norfolk.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL77808911
Latitude 52.47106° Longitude 0.61635°

Weeting Castle has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such, and also as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The remains of C12 hall house known as Weeting Castle, together with buried remains relating to earlier occupation of the site during the C10 or C11 and a post medieval ice house. The moated site is sub-rectangular in plan and has maximum overall dimensions of circa 105m north-south by circa 79m east-west. The moat, which is now dry, remains open to a depth of 2m and measures up to 10m in width. It surrounds a central island raised 0.4m above the external ground level and with internal dimensions of circa 85m north-south by circa 60m east-west. The remains of the medieval hall house stand in the middle of the southern half of the island. Built circa 1180, the ruined walls, which are constructed of mortared flint rubble with stone dressings, define a rectangular building 30m by 14m, containing a central aisled hall and a substantial three storey tower to the south. Evidence for occupation of the site prior to the construction of the hall house was found during limited excavations below and around the tower and included the buried remains of three successive ditches, dated by finds of pottery of Saxo-Norman type and a coin of the later C10. One of the ditches contained a quantity of burnt daub, possibly from a timber building or buildings. The ice house in the north west corner of the moated site is probably 18th century in date and is presumed to relate to Weeting Hall, which lay circa 225m to the west. It is constructed of brick and covered by an earthen mound circa 2.4m in height and circa 16m in diameter. The entrance is on the north side, facing the moat and comprises an outer doorway, set in a brick retaining wall with butresses to either side. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1014779, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 21411
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 380175.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 5626.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- English Heritage
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
  Great Castles (photo gallery) and Great Castles (profile)
  CastlesFortsBattle.co.uk
Books
- Cushion, B. and Davison, A., 2003, Earthworks of Norfolk (Dereham: East Anglian Archaeology 104) p. 182-3 (plan)
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 71
  Liddiard, R., 2000, Landscapes of Lordship (British Archaeological Reports British Series 309) p. 89-90
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 164
  Rogerson, Andrew, 1994, 'Castles' in Wade-Martins, P, (ed), An Historical Atlas of Norfolk (2edn Norwich; Norfolk Museums) p. 68-9
  Margeson, S., Seiller, F. and Rogerson, A., 1994, The Normans in Norfolk (Norfolk Museums Service) p. 36, 95
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 309
  Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p. 317
  Wilton, J.W., 1979, Earthworks and Fortifications of Norfolk (Weathercock Press) p. 24
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 341
  Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1962, The Buildings of England: Norfolk: North-West and South (Penguin) p. 369
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Blomefield, Francis, 1805, 'Hundred of Grimeshou: Weting' An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk Vol. 2 p. 159-173 online transcription (slight tenurial history only)
Periodical Articles
- Heslop, T.A., 2000, 'Weeting 'Castle' a twelfth-century hall house in Norfolk' Architectural History Vol. 43 p. 42-57 purchase copy
  Baggs, A.P., 1981, The Archaeological Journal Vol. 137 p. 356-7
  1965, Medieval Archaeology Vol. 9 p. 190-1 download copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Heslop, T.A., 1999, Weeting 'Castle' and the Twelfth-Century Origins of the Hall House
  McGee, C. and Perkins, J., 1985, Weeting Castle (English Heritage Archive Report)

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.

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.
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