Castlefacts³

Wormegay Castle

Has been described as a Certain Timber Castle (Motte)

There are earthwork remains

Name	Wormegay Castle
Alternative Names	Wormgay
Historic Country	Norfolk
Modern Authority	Norfolk
1974 Authority	Norfolk
Civil Parish	Wormegay

A motte and bailey castle in Wormegay village. The motte is visible as a large, sub-circular earthen mound 5m high and measuring about 77m by 62m at the base, surrounded on the north, west and south sides by a ditch 12m-15m wide which remains open to a depth of 2m. On the top of the mound is a slightly uneven platform on which would have stood a tower. The bailey adjoins the motte on the eastern side and takes the form of an enclosure measuring 150m by 88m, raised about 1m above the external ground level and bounded by a semicircular ditch which runs outward from the motte ditch and ranges in width from 9m on the south side to 19m on the east. The castle was probably built by Hermer de Ferrers after the Norman Conquest. (PastScape)

The remaining earthworks of a fine medieval motte and bailey castle situated on the west side of what was once an island in the peat fen to the south of the River Nar, controlling the causeway between the island and the higher ground to the west. The present village is thought to have developed around the castle after the Norman Conquest, replacing an earlier settlement in the vicinity of St Michael's Church to the east. The motte is visible as a large broadly circular tree-covered mound about 5m high, surrounded on three sides by a ditch, with a ditched bailey to the east. (Norfolk HER)

Gatehouse Comments

There is some discussion as to if there was a Saxon manor house on this site. Village nucleation came relatively late to Norfolk and was not always complete so it is possible there were two or more centres in Wormegay but it does seem unusual for the church and manor house to do quite so far apart and it does seem there was only one manor in Wormegay. In the Saxon landscape Wormegay must have been an island of cultivatable land surrounded by marsh with the castle at the neck of a causeway onto the 'island'.Particularly fine bailey the rampart is well preserved and shows signs of being built in short straight sections to form the general curve, suggesting the bank was made by infilling soil between two upright hurdles about 2m apart.

- Philip Davis

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)

356377

County Historic Environment Record

www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF3455

OS Map Grid Reference	TF659117
Latitude	52.6778907775879
Longitude	0.452160000801086
Eastings	565930
Northings	311730