CASTLE-ACRE, a parish in the Lynn division of the
hundred of FREEBRIDGE, county of NORFOLK, 4 miles
(N.) from Swaffham, containing 1100 inhabitants. The
living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and
diocese of Norwich, rated in the king's books at £5. 6. 8.,
endowed with £200 royal bounty, and £400 parlia-.
mentary grant, and in the patronage of T. W. Coke, Esq.
The church, dedicated to St. James, is a spacious and
ancient structure, with a lofty square embattled tower t
the east window of the chancel is ornamented with the
arms, and a window in the nave with a figure in complete
armour, of Earl Warren, in stained glass. There
are places of worship for Baptists and Wesleyan Methodists.
Castle-Acre, now an inconsiderable village,
noted chiefly for the remains of its ancient castle and
priory, from the former of which it takes the prefix
to its name, appears, from the vestiges of a Roman
road leading from Thetford to Brancaster, the discovery
of a tesselated pavement, and, lately, of several coins
(among which were some of Vespasian and Constantine),
to have been a Roman station, on the site of which the
castle was probably erected. Fairs for toys and pedlary
are held on St. James' day and August 5th. The magistrates
for the division hold a meeting once a fortnight;
and a manorial court is held annually in October.
The castle was built by William Warren, first earl
of Surrey, to whom the manor, with one hundred and
(thirty-nine others, was given by the Conqneror, and who
made it the head of all his lordships: it was probably
enlarged by his descendant, who, in 1297, entertained
Edward I. as his guest: there are sufficient remains to
indicate the extent of this massive pile, which, with its
appendages, comprised an area of more than eighteen
acres, surrounded by an embattled wall seven feet in
thickness, and strengthened by three lofty buttresses
built over the broad and deep moat by which the castle
was surrounded. The buildings were of a circular form,
and erected on the slope of a gentle eminence j below
the outer wall, which reached nearly to the river, was
a terrace-walk, commanding a fine view of the adjacent
country: they consisted of an outer and an inner:
ward, in the latter of which was the keep, a lofty circular
building of extraordinary strength. Through the
area, in a direction from north to south, passes the
principal street, at the -north end of which, leading into
the inner ward, is a fine arched entrance, with an outer
and an inner gate, and between them a portcullis, defended
by two circular bastions; at the south end of
the street are traces of a similar gateway, and nearly
in the centre is another gateway, leading into the outer
ward, which was enclosed by an embattled wall of
stone and flint, considerable portions of which are remaining;
and on the eastern side of the same street,
near the north gate, are the remains of the chapel that
belonged to the castle, now converted into a dwellinghouse.
To the west of the castle are the ruins of the
priory, founded by the same Earl Warren, in 1085, for
monks of the Cluniac order, dedicated to the Blessed
"Virgin, and subordinate to a similar establishment, by
the same founder, at Lewes, in the county of Sussex:
its revenue, at the dissolution, was £324. 17. 5. The
greater part of the west front of the priory church, a
spacious cruciform structure with two towers at the
west end, and a massive central tower, is still remaining,
and, with the exception of a large window of later
insertion over the entrance, is an elegant specimen of
the most enriched style of Norman architecture. The
conventual buildings, now converted into a farm-house
and offices, are of later date, and, from the remains,
their extent and arrangement may be distinctly ascertained:
a large room, now called the prior's diningroom,
has a fine oriel window, in which are the arms of
the priory, of the earls Warren and Arundel, of Mowbray,
Duke of Norfolk, and of France and England, all
in stained glass: at the east end are vestiges of an altar,
oyer which is a fine large window.