Norwich Castle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Norwich Castle |
|
|---|---|
Norwich Castle, March 2009
|
|
| Type | Motte-and-bailey castle |
| Location | Norwich |
| Height | 27 metres (89 ft) |
| Built | 1067 onwards |
| Architectural style(s) | Norman |
| Governing body | Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service |
|
Listed Building – Grade I
|
|
| Designated | 26 February 1954 |
| Reference no. | 1372724 |
| Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 420: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). | |
Norwich Castle is an old royal fortress in the city of Norwich, England. It's in the county of Norfolk. William the Conqueror, who ruled from 1066 to 1087, ordered it to be built. This happened soon after the Normans took over England.
The castle was used as a prison from 1220 until 1887. In 1894, the Norwich Museum moved into Norwich Castle. Today, the museum and art gallery has many important items from the area. These include artworks, old archaeological finds, and natural history items.
Norwich Castle is a very important historical site. It was officially recognized as a scheduled monument in 1915. The castle buildings, like the main tower and old prison parts, became a Grade I listed building in 1954. This means they are very important and protected. The castle is one of Norwich's twelve main heritage sites. The Norfolk Museums Service takes care of it.
Contents
History of Norwich Castle
Norwich Castle was started by William the Conqueror between 1066 and 1075. It was first built as a motte and bailey castle. This means it had a large earth mound (motte) with a tower on top. It also had a fenced area (bailey) below.
William the Conqueror began to take control of East Anglia in early 1067. Historians believe Norwich Castle was built around this time. The castle is first mentioned in 1075. This was when Ralph de Gael, the Earl of Norfolk, rebelled against William. Norwich Castle was held by Ralph's soldiers. The castle was surrounded, but the soldiers inside were promised safety if they gave up.
Norwich Castle is one of 48 castles mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. Building a castle often meant tearing down houses that were already there. In Norwich, between 17 and 113 houses might have been removed for the castle. Digs in the late 1970s found that the castle's bailey was built over an old Saxon cemetery.
Until Orford Castle was built in the mid-1100s, Norwich was the only major royal castle in East Anglia.
The stone tower, called the keep, that you see today was likely built between 1095 and 1110. Around 1100, the earth mound (motte) was made taller. The ditch around it was also made deeper.
During the Revolt of 1173–1174, Norwich Castle was made ready for battle. This was a civil war when King Henry II's sons rebelled against him. Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk joined the revolt. In May 1174, Bigod and his soldiers attacked Norwich Castle. They captured it and took fourteen prisoners. When peace returned later that year, the castle went back to royal control.
The castle was used as a prison starting in 1220. More buildings were added on top of the motte next to the keep. These buildings were later torn down and rebuilt between 1789 and 1793 by Sir John Soane. More changes were made in 1820. The castle stopped being a prison in 1887. The city of Norwich bought it to turn it into a museum. The museum opened in 1895.
The front building attached to the keep was taken down in 1825. The keep itself has been repaired many times. Its outer walls were completely redone between 1835 and 1839. The original Norman bridge over the inner ditch was replaced around 1825.
What Does Norwich Castle Look Like?
G. T. Clark, an expert from the 1800s, called Norwich's great tower "the most highly ornamented keep in England." It was covered with Caen stone over a flint core. The keep is about 29 meters (95 feet) by 27 meters (90 feet) and 21 meters (70 feet) high.
It's a "hall-keep" type, meaning you entered it on the first floor. The outside is decorated with blank arches. Castle Rising Castle is the only other similar keep. Inside, the keep has been changed a lot. Nothing is left of its original medieval design. Experts believe it had a complex layout with a kitchen, a chapel, a two-story hall, and 16 toilets.
Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery
The castle is still a museum and art gallery today. It has many of its first exhibits. The museum's fine art collection includes old clothes, fabrics, jewelry, glass, ceramics, and silverware. It also has a large display of ceramic teapots.
The art galleries show works by the early 19th-century Norwich School of painters. You can also see English watercolour paintings, Dutch landscapes, and modern British paintings. The castle also has a good collection of art by the Flemish artist Peter Tillemans.
Other galleries include displays about Boudica and the Romans. There's also a section on the Anglo-Saxons, which includes the Harford Farm Brooch. The Natural History gallery shows the Fountaine–Neimy butterfly collection. A special item is the needlework made by Lorina Bulwer. She created it while she was in a workhouse around 1900.
Amazing Things to See at the Museum
The Paston Treasure is a famous painting. It was made around 1663 for the Paston family. We don't know who the artist was, but it was likely a Dutch artist. The painting shows many real objects that the Paston family owned. It was a way to show off their wealth and collection. It might also have been a way to remember a family member who had passed away.
In 2018, the painting was the main part of an exhibition. This show brought the painting together with some of the actual objects it depicts. This was the first time they had been together in almost 300 years!
The Happisburgh hand axe is made of flint. It is 12.2 cm long and 7.8 cm wide. This Lower Palaeolithic hand axe was found in 2000 at Happisburgh on the Norfolk coast. Its discovery changed what we knew about early humans in Britain. It is about 500,000 years old, making it one of the oldest handaxes found in the UK. By studying pollen in the soil, archaeologists learned that the area was a temperate woodland when the axe was made.
The Cavalry Parade Helmet and Visor were found in the River Wensum in 1947 and 1950. These Roman items are from the early 200s CE. They show that Roman soldiers were in central Norfolk during the later Roman period. The helmet is made of gilded bronze and is highly decorated. It has an eagle's head on top and other designs. The visor mask also has detailed designs, showing Mars and Victory.
The unique Anglo-Saxon ceramic figure called Spong Man was found in 1979 at Spong Hill. The figure sits on a decorated chair, leaning forward with its head in its hands. It wears a flat, round hat. It probably sat on the lid of a pagan funerary urn. This object is unique in North Western Europe. We don't know why it was made, but it's the earliest Anglo-Saxon three-dimensional figure ever found. It might represent a god whose name is now lost.
Torcs, also known as neck-rings, were special jewels worn in the Iron Age across Europe. Important people in society wore them as a sign of their status and power. The rare tubular gold torc came from the Snettisham Treasure. It was found in 1948 at Snettisham with many other torcs. They were carefully buried, showing that burial rituals were very important to people in Late Iron Age Norfolk.
The Ashwellthorpe Triptych, also known as The Seven Sorrows of Mary, has strong links to South Norfolk. This Flemish altarpiece was ordered by the Knyvettes family of Ashwellthorpe. Christopher Knyvettes was sent to the Netherlands by King Henry VIII in 1512. He ordered this painting from the Master of the Legend of the Magdalen. Christopher and his wife Catherina are shown kneeling to Mary, mother of Jesus in the painting. This shows their religious devotion and wealth.
Dragons are famous in England through the legend of Saint George. However, they have always been especially important in Norwich since medieval times. The Norwich Snapdragon was made to show the city's power and wealth. It was used in parades that celebrated the city's saint and welcomed the new mayor. The Snapdragon at Norwich Castle, called Snap, is the last complete example of a civic snapdragon. It was built to hold one person inside. Its body is made of basketwork, painted with gold and red scales over a green body.
Norwich River: Afternoon is a painting by John Crome, an artist from the Norwich School of Painters. The Norwich Society of Artists was started in 1803 by Crome and Robert Ladbrooke. It brought together professional painters and drawing teachers. These artists were often inspired by the East Anglian landscape and by Dutch landscape painters. This oil painting is considered one of Crome's best works. It shows the River Wensum near where the artist lived in Norwich.
The Norfolk Regiment First World War Casualty Book is a special record of the Norfolk Regiment's part in the First World War. It lists details for over 15,000 soldiers from 1914 to 1919. Each entry includes the soldier's name, service number, and health details. It also records those who died in action.
Part of a rare group of English medieval art, the stained-glass roundel showing December is from the Norwich School of stained-glass. It shows clear Flemish influences. It might have been made by one of the Norwich Strangers, who were immigrants from the Low Countries in the 1500s. It is thought to have been made for Major Thomas Pykerell's house. Originally, there would have been twelve roundels showing the Labours of The Months. Only four of the original twelve survive today.
Images for kids
-
Norwich Castle and sheep market at the end of the 19th century
See also
In Spanish: Castillo de Norwich para niños
