Framlingham Castle and Red House

Framlingham Castle stands at the centre of a scheduled monument. The standing remains include the curtain walls, the Red House dwelling, the Poor House, and a fragment of an earlier building — formerly the medieval hall's north range, now surviving as a wing of the Poor House. The Poor House is listed separately.

The Castle

Materials

The castle walls are built of flint and rubble septaria, a calcareous sandstone, with lighter sandstone used for dressings. Later red brick additions appear at wall head level and include decorative carved brickwork to spiral chimneys.

Plan

The curtain wall forms an irregular oval-shaped enclosure. Within it stand the Red House, the Poor House and its north wing, all sited against the wall on the west side. The castle is approached by a masonry bridge spanning the castle ditch to the south of the gatehouse. A projecting tower extends from the west side of the curtain wall, originally linked to the castle by a passage from the postern gateway. On the eastern side, beyond the wall, survive the masonry piers of the bridge to the former bailey garden.

The Curtain Wall and Towers

The curtain wall reaches approximately 10 metres high at its highest points and is approximately 2.3 metres thick. Thirteen towers are incorporated into and project from the walls, with crenellations rising a further approximately 3.7 metres. The towers are open-backed and linked by a wall walk protected by crenellations. In the 15th century, many towers were converted into chambers, remains of which can be seen on the inner face of the curtain wall.

The gatehouse (Tower 1) is a Tudor remodelling of the original, believed to have been undertaken by Thomas Howard. Its wide moulded surround and pointed-arched head are surmounted by a plaque bearing the arms of the Howard Dukes of Norfolk. The gatehouse bridge, thought built between 1524 and 1547, has a lower section of rubble stonework including a deep segmental arch, with later 18th-century brick parapets above. Crenellated masonry walls of uneven length flank the approach.

East of the gatehouse stand two further towers (Towers 2 and 3) and a faceted tower (Tower 4) at the south-east corner. The wall extends northwards with a square tower (Tower 5) and a wider tower (Tower 6) thought to stand adjacent to the site of the medieval castle chapel. At mid-height within this tower is a semi-circular headed window with an ashlar surround, believed to have been the chapel east window. Recesses in the walling below mark the indentations of the chapel buttresses.

Immediately north, extending to Tower 7, is an area of walling with numerous recesses and openings, thought to be remains of the medieval castle's mid-12th-century chamber block. Erected before the curtain wall's construction, the chamber block was retained when the wall was built, and impressions of some elements remain, together with circular stone chimneys later extended in Tudor brick. Chambers were later built into Tower 7, and a window opening was enlarged to form a semi-circular headed doorway leading to the bridge accessing the bailey garden.

The curtain wall curves westwards then southwards at the northern end, with three more towers (Towers 8, 9 and 10). It then passes behind and forms the rear wall of the Poor House and its north range, and the Red House. Visible in the outer face are three tall lancet windows that lit the great hall, and a wide transomed window inserted to light the Poor House interior. Tower 11 stands behind the southern end of the Poor House. A section of wall with a semi-circular headed doorway at its base leads to the western tower (Tower 12, also called the Prison Tower), which projects from the curtain wall. This tower protected the passage from the postern gate and sally port, whose doorway is visible from the castle ditch. It was later adapted to provide a viewing gallery overlooking the lower court gardens. The wall extends to Tower 13 before returning south-eastwards to the gatehouse.

The curtain wall retains evidence of both defensive capability and decorative elements introduced in the early 16th century by the Howards. Crenellations to towers and curtain wall were supplemented by arrow loops at low and high levels. Large openings in the walling east of the gatehouse housed double arrow loops, whilst at wall walk level individual arrow loops are visible in the crenellations. Later brick embellishments include extensions to two cylindrical stone chimneys, believed to be the earliest examples of their kind, and carved brick chimneys of different patterns — including spiral and zig-zag forms — added to several towers as decorative rather than functional features.

The Red House

Built in the mid-17th century and thought originally intended to house the town's schoolmaster, the Red House became the first poor house before construction of its larger replacement in 1729. The building is thought to have replaced the service wing of the medieval hall.

Materials

The Red House is built of red brick, rising from a shallow brick plinth, with moulded brick detailing and a plain tile roof covering.

Plan

The building is of lobby entrance form. The main doorway gives access directly onto a stair, with the main ground-floor rooms located either side of a small entrance lobby. The building is built against the castle curtain wall at its western end.

Exterior

The front (south) elevation has two storeys with attics, and is of four bays with a central doorway. Two tall gables rise in the southern roof slope, between which stands a tall brick chimney stack with a moulded brick base. To the left of the doorway are two three-light mullioned windows and to the right one four-light window, all with moulded wooden chamfer mullions. The windows and doorway sit below a moulded string course. At first-floor level are three three-light windows with transoms, and a small three-light mullioned window above the doorway. Each roof gable has a single two-light mullioned window. All windows have leaded lights and are set beneath moulded brick hood moulds.

The east gable has a three-light mullioned window within the gable apex. Immediately below is a rectangular stone plaque, then a moulded brick band course. Below, at first-floor level, is a four-light mullioned window set within a shallow oriel-like projection. Below is a four-light ground-floor mullioned window. All gable window openings sit beneath hood moulds.

The north elevation is interrupted on its right-hand side by the front wall of the attached Poor House. To the left-hand bay are two three-light windows, with a small three-light window to the first floor of the central bay and a single-light window below.

Interior

The building is of single room depth, with principal ground-floor rooms flanking the entrance lobby. The room west of the entrance has a 20th-century hearth surround and a single chamfered spine beam. Further west is an irregularly shaped room abutting the curtain wall, with an arched doorway opening in the wall thickness, now used as storage. The entrance lobby gives access to a winder stair extending into the attic level.

The east ground-floor room has a single chamfered spine beam and a wide hearth with a shallow basket arched head in red brick, supported on re-set or modified sections of moulded and chamfered jambs from an earlier hearth. Within the hearth recess is a curved wall that may have been an oven, now sealed. The attic level now forms part of the open-plan attic level of the attached Poor House.