Today being Wednesday, it meant that it was field trip day, allowing us a chance to get out of Cambridge and explore parts of the country that we otherwise would not. This week, we headed east instead of west, journeying to Norfolk, the most northeasterly county in East Anglia. In Norfolk, near the small village of Castle Acre, are the remains of Castle Acre Priory, an 11th century monastery, and Castle Acre Castle, an 11th century motte-and-bailey fortress. Additionally, moving forward in time, Oxburgh Hall, an Elizabethan country estate, lies only a few miles from Castle Acre. Setting off from Cambridge after breakfast, we rode through a combination of farmland and small villages on the way to Castle Acre; indeed, most of the scenery around here is the same: farms, farms, and more farms. I never realized how agricultural East Anglia really is until I began traveling outside of Cambridge, on both the train and the bus. Along the way, I also saw a few scattered windmills, but nothing like the wind farms in Germany. Furthermore, I have hardly seen any solar panels, either in fields or atop houses, which is very common in Germany; this seems to indicate that the British are not as advanced in-or as concerned about-alternative energy as the Germans.
When we arrived in the Castle Acre area, we went first to the ruins of Castle Acre Priory, founded in the 11th century, after the Norman Conquest, by the de Warenne family, who had been made Earls of Surrey by William the Conqueror. William de Warenne, the 1st Earl of Surrey, had been part of William’s army when he came to press his claim to the English throne in 1066; as a reward for his loyalty and service, de Warenne was created Earl of Surrey, taking over lands that had previously belonged to Saxon lords. As was customary at the time for great magnates, the 1st Earl decided to found a monastery in England. Being Norman, he brought an order of French monks, the Cluniacs, over to England, thus founding the first Cluniac monastery at Lewes, in Sussex. The 1st Earl’s son, another William de Warenne, carried on his father’s religious work, founding the great Cluniac abbey at Castle Acre. Unlike the Benedictines, the Cluniac monks were more opulent, decorating their churches and engaging in more elaborate rituals. Thus, the monastery church at Castle Acre Priory must have been quite beautiful in its day. However, the Priory was destroyed in the 1530s, due to the Dissolution of the Monasteries after Henry VIII’s break with the Roman Catholic Church; all that is left today of the monastery are ruins.
Despite its ruined state, one can still get an idea of the scale of Castle Acre Priory, as it would have been absolutely enormous compared to the tiny wattle and daub houses that most ordinary people at the time lived in. In addition to the church, there would have been a chapter house, the prior’s lodgings, the dormitory, the refectory, a guest house, an infirmary, and several outbuildings, including a barn and a brewery. The monks also had a rather sophisticated system of latrines for the time, situated over a creek that would wash the waste away from the monastery, slowing the spread of disease. With respect to the monastery church, I believe that it must have been quite beautiful; most of the façade survives, and it appears as though there would have been a large stained glass window situated above the entrance to the church. Once inside, the nave would have been lengthy, leading up to the altar, with two side aisles, visible from the remains of columns on either side of the nave. Not many of the arches lining the nave have survived, but from the one remaining I formed the opinion that the church’s architectural style is Romanesque, not Gothic, as the arch is rounded, not pointed. Although I am not architecture expert, I believe that this is correct, as Castle Acre Priory was built before the Gothic style came into being.
Beyond the monastery church, the most complete part of the Priory today is the prior’s lodgings, which still have walls, floors, and a roof. Indeed, the staircase leading to the upper floor is complete, allowing me to visit all of the prior’s lodgings. As befitting the Cluniac order’s tendency toward opulence, the prior’s rooms are quite large and very private, on the opposite side of the monastery from the dormitory, where the other monks lived. After climbing the rather narrow staircase, I walked along an outdoor passageway, then entered the prior’s great chamber, which boasts a large fireplace, tall ceilings, and enormous windows (for dwellings at the time). Compared to 99% of the population, the prior of Castle Acre Priory would have lived very well indeed. Moreover, the adjoining room to the great chamber is the prior’s private chapel, meaning that he would not have had to worship with the other monks, instead remaining somewhat aloof. If the English Reformation had been similar to that in the German states, beginning with monks and priests themselves, I could infer that, perhaps, the opulence of the prior’s lodgings was a sign of greater problems within the Catholic Church. However, the English Reformation came from the top down, so possibly other monks thought little of the opulence of the Cluniacs. I honestly do not have an answer to this question: it requires more study and reading. One other part of the prior’s lodgings that I found quite interesting was the decorations on the ceiling in the great chamber. Rather than a scene from the Bible or some sort of other religious motif, the last prior of Castle Acre chose to paint Tudor roses on the beams, symbols of state. Ironically, it was the very same Tudor king that the prior honored-Henry VIII-that would destroy the Cluniac monks’ way of life forever.
If the monks at Castle Acre Priory represented those who pray in the model of society composed of three estates, then the nearby village of Castle Acre represented those who work, as well as everyone else not fitting into an estate, such as women. The townspeople were linked to the Priory, as they supplied the monks with some of their food, and the prior of the monastery had the privilege of selecting the priest at the village church. Today, Castle Acre is a sleepy village, with one pub and one tearoom, as well as one of its original gates, for the town was at one time fortified, likely because of its proximity to both monastery and castle. Indeed, on the other side of the village from the Priory is Castle Acre Castle, also built by William de Warenne, the 1st Earl of Surrey in the 11th century; to continue with the three estates, the castle’s inhabitants would have been those that fight. The fortress is a motte-and-bailey castle, meaning that the entire area would have been enclosed, with the bailey slightly lower than the well-fortified keep. Not much remains of the castle today, though one can see the outlines of the walls, as well as some remaining sections; additionally, some of the keep walls still stand and are very impressive for their sheer thickness. If Castle Acre Castle had ever been attacked, the keep would have been the last point of defense, explaining why the walls were so thick: to be as impregnable as possible. After looking at what remains of the great hall, I realized that, while life in the castle would certainly have been preferable to that in the village, it was very primitive compared to our lives today, or even the lives of people just a few centuries later. The room did not even have a visible fireplace, for the fireplace as we think of it today had yet to be invented; furthermore, all of the castle inhabitants would have lived very near each other, speeding the spread of disease and resulting in very little privacy. From the great hall, we moved up, climbing onto the remains of the castle walls; at the top, one can see not only where the moat would have been, adding yet another layer of defense to the castle, but also far out into the distance, giving the castle’s defenders the advantage of knowing if an enemy was coming.
From Castle Acre, we proceeded to Oxburgh Hall, only twenty minutes away, but in an entirely different era. While parts of the exterior, as well as much of the interior, are of Victorian origin today, the original house was built during the Tudor era by the Bedingfeld family, notable for remaining Catholic after the break with Rome. From the outside, Oxburgh Hall looks somewhat like a defensible castle, with a tower for a gatehouse and a moat around the entire house. However, as our guide explained, these features were mainly for show, as the moat is only two feet deep in one point, and the gatehouse was not designed to be defended. Walking across the bridge over the moat and passing through the gatehouse, one enters the central courtyard of the house. Unfortunately, this part of Oxburgh bears little resemblance to the original Tudor house, as the great hall, where much of the day-to-day living in the Tudor period would have taken place, was demolished in the eighteenth century. Furthermore, in the early nineteenth century, Sir Henry Bedingfeld, the 6th Baronet, embarked on a renovation project, so many of the rooms bear Victorian markings, including dark woodwork and painted ceilings. Personally, I wish I could have seen the house before it was Victorianized, so that I could better picture what life in a Tudor house would truly look like. As I have said before, the Tudor period is what first got me interested in history, and I am still very interested in Tudor society, culture, and politics. To be able to see a Tudor-era house in its original condition would be an amazing-and, probably, impossible-experience.
For me, the most interesting part of Oxburgh Hall was the fact that the Bedingfeld family remained Catholic after the English Reformation, risking imprisonment and loss of lands to continue practicing their religion. Especially during the Elizabethan period, being a Catholic in England was a very dangerous prospect, as pursuivants (essentially religious police) would come to the homes of suspected Catholics, searching for Catholic priests, who, if caught, faced imprisonment and possible execution. Because of the danger, many Catholic families, including the Bedingfelds, built priest holes inside their homes, where their priest could hide in case the queen’s forces came searching. At Oxburgh Hall, the priest hole is off of a bedchamber known, ironically, as the King’s Room. Today, it is accessible only though a small entrance hole, which, according to our guide, would likely have originally been an emergency exit only. The main entrance was, most probably, through a concealed door in the main bedchamber; however, that way has since been bricked up. Therefore, when I went into the priest hole, I had to slide through the rather small entrance hole and scoot under some overhanging bricks before being able to stand up. The actual priest hole is more spacious than I had imagined, fitting three people comfortably; additionally, today, it is well-lit, but I would not have wanted to be there during Tudor times, without electricity. After a short time in the priest hole (l left before claustrophobia kicked in), I crawled back out the way I came in; as we moved on to the next room, our guide told us that a rosary was found in the priest hole when it was rediscovered, suggesting that the hole had been used at some point.
After leaving Oxburgh Hall, we came back to Cambridge, where we all headed out for dinner at Pizza Express in honor of Hadyn’s birthday. Once dinner was finished, I came back to my room and collapsed after a long day of field tripping! Tomorrow, hopefully, will be a quiet day before leaving for the long weekend.
Making the Past Present 