My friends Rebecca and Stuart and I were at a loss what to do today and I casually mentioned Rising Castle and Castle Acre priory were open today and we thought that will do.
Thank you to Stuart for the homemade Sausage and Bacon sandwich.
Holy Trinity, Stow Bardolph.
To be honest the thing you visit for is the Sarah Hare memorial which you can see here (it works best in colour).
Rising Castle... Rising was built in the late 1130's early 1140's. It was home to Queen Isabella when she fell from power. Isabella (the She Wolf) was wife to Edward II him who died of the red hot poker fame (it probably is a myth but hey) It fell into disrepair (nothing to do with the English Civil War). It was in the care of English Heritage but is now managed by Baron Howard of Rising but EH members get in for free.
Random fact it was used as the German Castle in 'allo 'allo!
St James the Great, Castle Acre
The priory is one of my favourites. It s a cluniac foundation dating to the mid 12th century. Alas at the moment there is lots of scaffolding up and restricted access due to repairs.
I have been to the church and priory many times but never the Castle. Odd but today I broke my duck.
It is much more impressive than I expected with work starting in the 1070's the fortifications were in ruins by 1397. It was built by the Earl's de Warenne who gave the former parish church of St Mary's (now surrounded by the castle outer bailey walls) to the Cluniacs. A group arrived to settle there and were then given the land where the priory was later built.
a lovely day out with friends and a walk through England History (to quote English Heritage).
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