The castle was built between 1165 and 1173 by Henry II. The outer walls of the castle have gone but the central keep remains in almost perfect condition. It is nearly 30m high and is constructed of three different kinds of stone. Most of the walls are made of roughly-cut blocks of local clayey limestone (septaria) which erodes badly. For finer work a sandy oolite was brought from Northamptonshire, and for the finest work of all, mainly on the inside of the keep, a fine limestone was brought from Caen in Normandy. Henry II was duke of Normandy as well as King of England. At the top of the south eastern turret of the keep is a reinforced concrete structure which is part of a look out post built during World War II.

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Name	Orford Castle
Alternative Names	Oreford
Historic County	Suffolk
Civil Parish	Orford
Type	Masonry Castle
Confidence	Certain
Remains	Major
Listed	Grade 1
Scheduled Ancient Monument	Yes
Ordnance Survey Reference	TM419498
Eastings	641930
Northing	249870
Images of England Reference	285095
PastScape Reference	391933
Historic Environment Record

Multi Map

StreetMaps

Books

• Hegarty, Cain and Newsome, Sarah, 2007, Suffolk's Defended Shore (English Heritage) p13-14 http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/Suffolks_Defended_Shore_-_Chap_1-5.pdf?1248951573
• Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern) p84-6
• 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) p236-7 [plan]
• King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p459
• Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p272-3
• Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
• Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p769-71, plate 47
• Pevsner, N., 1961, The Buildings of England: Suffolk (London, Penguin) p355-6
• Toy, Sidney, 1953, The Castles of Great Britain (Heinemann) p105
• Evans, Herbert A., 1912, Castles of England and Wales (London) p299-305
• Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co) p106-11
• Wall, 1911, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Suffolk Vol1 p592-3
• Balding and Turner, 1908, in Redstone, Memories of Old Suffolk (London) p48-66
• Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol1 p284-5
• Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol2 (London) p176
• King, Edward, 1799-1805, Munimenta antiqua or Observations on antient castles (W.Bulmer and Co) Vol3 p150-4
• Buck, Samuel and Nathenial, 1774, Buck’s Antiquities (London) Vol2 p275
• Grose, F., 1756, Antiquities of England and Wales Vol5 p73-6

Antiquarian

• William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/essexeng.html#suff10]

Journals

• Anon, 2004, 'Investigation of the curtain wall at Orford Castle concluded' CSG Newsletter Vol6 Issue1 p1
• Heslop, T.A., 1991, 'Orford Castle, nostalgia and sophisticated living' Architectural History Vol34 p36-58 [Reprinted in Liddiard, R. (ed), 2003, Anglo-Norman Castles (Woodbridge)]
• Drury, P.J. and Norton, E.C., 1985, ‘Twelfth-century floor- and roof-tiles at Orford Castle' Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History Vol36.1 p1–7
• Martin, E.A., 1977-80, ‘Suffolk Archaeological Unit excavations, 1978’ Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History Vol34 p220
• Brown, R, Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' English Historical Review Vol74 p249-280 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p90-121] http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8266%28195904%2974%3A291%3C249%3AALOC1%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
• Brown, R. Allen, 1955, 'Royal Castle-building in England 1154-1216' English Historical Review Vol70 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press)] pp19-64
• Roberts, 1930, Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol36 p33-58
• Anon, 1901, 'Survey of Orford Castle, 1600' Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History Vol11 pt1 p50
• Redstone, V.B., 1899, 'Orford and its Castle' Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History Vol10 pt2 p205-230
• Hervey, J., 1876, 'Observations on Orford Castle (Read 9 Jul 1872)' Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History Vol5 pt1 p120-2
• 1872, The Antiquary Vol2 p189-90 [unimportant]
• Hartshorne, C.H., 1842, 'Observations upon the present state of Orford castle in the county of Suffolk, with some conjectures as to the probable uses to which parts of the building were assigned' Archaeologia Vol29 p60-9

Guidebooks

• Rhodes, John, 2003, Orford Castle (London: English Heritage)
• Renn, D., 1988, Framlingham and Orford castles (London: English Heritage)
• Brown, R.Allen, 1988, Orford Castle, Suffolk (London: English Heritage)
• Brown, R.Allen, 1964, Orford Castle, Suffolk (HMSO)

Primary Sources

• Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p442-3