Castle Acre Castle

Castle Acre Castle is a Grade I listed building that includes an earlier unfortified house. The house, dating from the 11th century, was converted into a keep in the mid-12th century, with an outer ward added around 1200 and further developments in the 13th century. The structure is built from flint and clunch rubble, with some stone dressings, and is currently roofless. It was constructed by the first de Warrene Earls of Surrey, who died in 1087 and was the father of the founder of Castle Acre Priory. The castle became abandoned in the 14th century.

Originally a post-Conquest country house or domus defensabilis, it may have featured a two-storey hall before being transformed into a rectangular keep in the early to mid-12th century. Excavations conducted between 1972 and 1977 revealed the remains of the castle. The curtain wall replaced a former wooden palisade, and clasping buttress piers can still be seen on the exterior of the west and north sides. The lower wall was fortified around 1200, with sections of the wall still standing on the east and south sides. To the west, the base of the south abutment of a 13th-century gateway can be found, which may have been built around the same time as the north Bailey Gate of Castle Acre. The site was once thought to be a motte and bailey castle built in the late 11th century. It is designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, County Number 140.