Ebook: Castle Rising Castle, Norfolk

With contributions from Susanne Atkin, Matthew Canti, John Cherry, H. E. M. Cool, Elisabeth Crowfoot, Andrew Crowson, B. M. A. Ellis, J. G. Evans, Frances Healy, Michael Heyworth, R. T. Jones, David King, Barry Knight, Alison Locker, Sue Margeson, Bill Milligan, Graham Morgan, Terry O'Connor, A. R. Pipe, K. Reilly, S. E. Rigold, Paul Rutledge, Brian Spencer, D. F. Williams and Val Williams. With illustrations by Steven Ashley, Andrew Crowson, Judith Dobie, David Fox, David Gurney and Hoste Spalding, and photographs by Derek A. Edwards, Beric Morley and David Wicks.

Excavations between 1970 and 1976 and in 1987 are described in this volume. Traces of a substantial timber structure interpreted as a late Saxon bow-sided hall were revealed below the Norman keep. The church and the defences were found to be contemporary with the keep, although the keep itself seems to have remained unfinished until some time in the 13th century. Two residential ranges with a chapel and a timber kitchen date from the years of Queen Isabella’s occupancy (1331–1358) but by the end of the 15th century most of the buildings, including the keep, were seriously dilapidated. One of the residential ranges was entirely rebuilt to accommodate hunting parties for a time but everything except the shell of the chapel was systematically demolished at the end of the 16th century. Antiquarian interest in the site led to repairs to the keep and widespread levelling operations around it which included clearance of the Norman church.