Burgh Castle

In the civil parish of Burgh Castle.
In the historic county of Suffolk (Modern Authority of Norfolk, 1974 county of Norfolk).

Remains of a Roman-Saxon shore fort, probably built in the late C3 and evacuated in the early C5. The fort walls survive on three sides (north, south and east) and reach a height of c.4.6m and up to 3m thick; they are of coursed flint facing a concrete rubble core. At every 5-6 courses of flints are 3 courses of brick, giving a striated appearance to the walls. At the corners and at the centre of the shorter sides (north and south) are bulbous drum bastions which were probably added in C4. The wall on the west has collapsed and is no longer visible. The remains of the late C11 Norman motte and bailey occupied the south west quadrant of the fort, where it was visible at one time as a large earthen mound encircled by a ditch. The mound was partly removed circa 1770 and completely levelled in 1839, and the ditch was infilled, although it survives as a buried feature and has been recorded as a crop mark enclosing an oval area measuring circa 72m north-south by 53m east-west. A section excavated across the ditch on the east side established that it is circa 4m deep and that the lowest levels of fill are waterlogged. On the south east side a breach circa 18m wide in the south curtain wall marks where the ditch cuts through, and traces of the southern edge of the mound above the scarp of the inner edge of the ditch remain visible against the outer side of the wall to the west of the breach. Approximately a quarter of the area formerly covered by the mound was also excavated and found to contain several large, clay-filled pits, identified as foundations for part of a timber sub-structure to support the tower, also of timber, which stood on top of the mound. The remainder of the fort, to the north and east of the motte, was adapted for use as the bailey of the castle. A north-south bank, remains of which were observed in the excavations at the north west corner, is thought to have been constructed at this time to block the gap on the western side of the fort left by the collapse of the north end of the original Roman wall on that side. The broken western end of the north wall was reinforced by a large earthen mound heaped against its outer face up to 6m high above the falling ground level to the north. Post-Conquest occupation of the fort is confirmed by finds of C11/C12 pottery.

This site has been described as a;
Timber Castle
Masonry Castle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This site is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 227750)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TG475046

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 1397355

• Web site links
  • http://www.norfarchtrust.org.uk/burgh/index.htm
    http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_east_anglia/134/burghcastle.htm
    http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/conProperty.8
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern) p74
    Martin, Edward, 1999 [3edn], 'Medieval Castles' in Dymond, David and Martin, Edward (eds) An Historical Atlas of Suffolk (Lavenham) p58-9
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge)
    Higham, R. and Barker, P., 1992, Timber Castles (Batsford) p200, 357
    Johnson, Stephen, 1983, Burgh Castle, excavations by Charles Green, 1958–61. (Dereham: East Anglian Archaeology 20)[digital reprint 2003]
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p459-60
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p197
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
    Dahl, 1913, The Roman Camp and the Irish Saint at Burgh Castle (London) p25
    King, Edward, 1799-1805, Munimenta antiqua or Observations on antient castles (W.Bulmer and Co) Vol2 p55
    Buck, Samuel and Nathenial, 1774, Buck’s Antiquities (London) Vol2 p269
    Grose, F., 1756, Antiquities of England and Wales Vol5 p58-61
• Journal Articles
  • (Green), 1962-3, Medieval Archaeology Vol6-7 p311
    (Green), 1961, Medieval Archaeology Vol5 p319
    Morris and Hawkes, 1949, Archaeological Journal Vol106 p66-9
    Morris, A.J., 1947, 'The Saxon shore fort at Burgh Castle' Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History Vol24 pt2 p100-120
    Redstone, V.B., 1903, Notes on Suffolk Castles. 'II. Burgh Castle' Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History Vol11 pt3 p308-314
• Guidebooks
  • Johnson, Stephen, 1978, Burgh Castle (HMSO)
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/essexeng.html#suff15]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p447