Norwich Castle

Norwich Castle comprises an early 12th-century hall keep, refaced in the 1830s, with an attached former prison added in the early 19th century. The complex was converted into a museum and art gallery in the 1880s, with further 20th-century additions.

Materials and Construction

The keep is faced in ashlared Bath stone laid to courses over a Quaternary flint core. The former prison is constructed of Aberdeen granite. Caen stone elements are present throughout. The Fitch Gallery is built of rich red brick laid in English bond.

Plan and Layout

The castle occupies the top of the Castle Mound and has an approximately octagonal plan with alternating short and long sides. The square keep stands in the south-west corner, clasped on its north and east sides by the former prison. The prison has a radial plan with a central courtyard under the Rotunda from which extend north, east and west wings, and a 20th-century south-east wing, all housing galleries. Early 20th-century galleries occupy the north-east and north-west courtyards. On the south frontage, attached to the keep on its east side, is the Great Gatehouse containing the main entrance and private rooms. A high wall extends from the Gatehouse around the site, joining up to the north-east corner of the keep.

Exterior

The castle is an immense, imposing structure that dominates its surroundings. The walls of the keep are articulated into four bays by wide Norman buttresses with set-back buttresses at the corners. Above an almost unbroken ground stage are three or four tiers of blind arcading differing in height and width, pierced irregularly by windows, and surmounted by battlements with nine pierced and capped merlons on each side. The battlements are supported by a modillion course. There are subtle differences in the decoration on each face but only the south and west faces are completely visible.

The south face has four tiers of arcading. The lowest tier consists of five round arches per bay with billet friezes and scalloped capitals on attached columns. The second tier has approximately five elongated round arches per bay with scalloped capitals, and intermittent wider arches pierced by paired windows. The third tier has six arches per bay with billet friezes and plain capitals on square attached columns. The fourth tier has seven arches per bay with a simple roll moulding and scalloped capitals on attached columns.

On the west face, the two central bays at basement level are defined by blind round arched recesses with a modillion course and four blind arches above. The first and second tiers are similar to their counterparts on the south face. The third tier consists of four arches with a roll moulding and scalloped capitals, filled with diapering.

Attached to the east side of the keep is Wilkins' Great Gatehouse, a forbidding two-storey crenellated structure. To the left is the recessed entrance bay which has a moulded Tudor arch doorway with heavy double-leaf doors studded with nails and divided into many panels by applied fillets. Above, the first floor is lit by a four-light mullion window with cusped round arches under a Tudor hoodmould. The crenellated parapet above the entrance bay is supported by a corbel table, whilst the wider projection to the right is defined by corner bastions. This is lit at ground-floor level by a four-light mullion, similar to that already described, and a square crenellated bay window with a central transom dividing it into ten lights. The first floor is lit by three two-light mullions, regularly spaced. The surrounding high wall has a plinth and crenellations with saddle-back coping. It is almost unbroken except for intermittent Tudor arched, nail studded timber doors with vertical applied fillets.

Interior of the Keep

The interior walls of the keep are constructed of rubble stone at basement level and ashlared blocks at hall level, with small areas of flint. The original floor level of the basement has been raised, dividing the basement in two. The level of the upper floor is indicated by the Victorian gallery, added by Boardman, which has a balustrade of capitals linked by round arches, giving the impression of an arcade. This is accessed via a handsome quarter turn stair with turned balusters and ramped handrails, situated at the south end of the west wall. The location of the original east-west crosswall is indicated by Boardman's massive arcade which has four round arches with a roll moulding, the central two higher and wider than the outer two, supported by square piers with corner shafts. This supports the elaborate parallel ranges of the roof, a variation of a crown post truss which has a crown post between the ridge and collar beam, which in turn is supported by two crown posts rising from the tie beam.

The upper floor of the basement is lit on the south side by four deeply splayed round arched windows, two in the centre and one at either end. All the apertures in the keep have round arches. There is a door opening at the east end of the north side, and a 19th-century moulded doorway with half columns at the south end of the east side. The west wall is blind but at the north end retains evidence of vaulting which supported the stone-flagged floor of the kitchen immediately above in the Great Hall. The deep stone-lined well is located approximately in the centre.

At hall level, the inner and outer walls of the wall passages are pierced by windows and openings which mostly have a billet frieze around the arch, supported by half or three-quarter columns and plain scalloped capitals. The Great Hall, which occupied the north side, retains spiral staircases in both corners and the arch of the fireplace which is set at an angle in the north-west corner. In the centre of the west wall, spanning the Great Hall and the Great Chamber, is a projection embellished with a blind arcade which houses the four garderobes. The Great Chamber, which occupied the south side, retains a spiral staircase in the south west corner, probably serving a private chamber indicated by a respond and the springing of a vault. Halfway along the south side is the round arched alcove of the former fireplace. The size of the chapel in the south-east corner is suggested by the slight projection of masonry on the south wall. The arch of the corner apse is set at an angle and its irregular groined vault is preserved. There are brick repairs to some parts of the wall in the south-west corner. A 20th-century lift shaft rises through the east side of the gallery.

The round-arched portal, accessed via stairs replaced in 1978, is the most ornate piece of Norman carving in the keep. It has three orders of shafts, the inner one embellished with a modified beakhead motif which is continued around the arch. The arches have a roll moulding with panels in between carrying interlace, foliage and little animals, and the capitals are carved with figures and animals from hunting scenes. The whole portal is surrounded by a wider arch decorated with large four-petal flowers, and to the right is a smaller blank arch, possibly designed to imitate the pairing of large and small gateways into Roman cities. Although the forebuilding was later rebuilt, the vault survives beneath – a quadripartite rib-vault, with roll moulded ribs.

Interior of the Great Gatehouse and Victorian Galleries

The other principal areas of interest in the castle are Wilkins' Great Gatehouse in the Gothic style and Boardman's Victorian galleries. In the Great Gatehouse, the entrance hall has a straight flight stone staircase with a balustrade of cusped arches, lit by an elegant octagonal skylight and a ten-light mullion and transomed window with cinquefoil arches and painted motifs. A large room to the right, presumably the former Prison Master's private quarters, which is lit by the square bay, has a ceiling decorated with a raised geometric pattern and a moulded stone Tudor arch fireplace with a crenellated timber surround of blind cinquefoil arches. A small adjoining room retains a 19th-century corner marble wash basin.

The Victorian galleries retain a high proportion of their good quality fixtures and fittings, notably the mosaic and parquet floors, the fitted display cupboards lining the gallery walls, the moulded Tudor arch doorcases and panelled doors, the ornate metal staircases, and the tiled floors and walls of the lavatories. The galleries have a crenellated cornice and ceilings with a pronounced cove and deep ribs forming squares filled with geometric patterns. The upper galleries are top-lit but follow a similar design. The small Fitch Gallery, added in 1892, is particularly ornate. The fitted display cupboards, embellished with delicate Gothic timber tracery, and the exquisite painted glass in the windows, all survive intact. The Colman Galleries, added in the 1920s, are plainer but elegant in their proportions and panelling.

Exclusions

The Rotunda, the café on the south side of the west radial wing, the gift shop along the south side of the south-east radial wing, and the lavatories in the basement are not of special architectural or historic interest.