Eye Castle
Encyclopedia
Eye Castle is a motte and bailey medieval castle with a prominent Victorian
addition in the town of Eye
, Suffolk
. Built shortly after the Norman conquest of England
in 1066, the castle was sacked and largely destroyed in 1265. Sir Edward Kerrison
built a stone house on the motte in 1844: the house later decayed into ruin, becoming known as Kerrison's Folly in subsequent years.
by William Malet
, who died fighting Hereward the Wake
in 1071. The Malet family also controlled the surrounding Honour of Eye, a significant collection of estates centring on the castle, and the park
of Eye. The castle motte is 160 feet (49 m) in diameter and 40 feet (12 m) high, with the bailey approximately 400 feet (122m) by 250 feet (76 m) wide. The castle is unusual in being only of two castles mentioned in the Domesday book
on 1086 as a source of income for their owners, due to the presence of a market
within the castle, bailey, from which the owner drew revenue; the castle's market competed with the Bishop of Norwich
's market at Hoxne
.
William Malet's son, Robert
, was exiled and after his defeat at the battle of Tinebrai in 1106, Eye was confiscated by Henry I
and became a royal castle for a period. Henry gave Eye to his favoured nephew, Stephen of Blois
in 1112. Stephen suceeded to the English throne in 1135 and he gave the honour of Eye first to one of his lieutenants, William of Ypres
and then later to Hervey Brito, his son-in-law. At some point during the 1140s, Stephen then transferred the lands to his second son, William. William was still young at the time, and it appears that until he came of age these lands were initially managed by Stephen's trusted Royal Steward, William Martel
. Meanwhile, the civil war known as the Anarchy
had broken out between Stephen and the Empress Matilda
between 1138 and 1154; much of the fighting occurred in East Anglia, where the powerful Bigod family, headed by Hugh Bigod
, attempted to expand their autonomy and influence. Eye Castle did not play a major role in the war as, despite some skirmishing occurring in the region, most of the campaigning was conducted to the west.
After coming to power in 1154, Henry II
attempted to re-establish royal influence across the region. Partially as a result of the civil war, Hugh Bigod had come to dominate East Anglia by the late 12th century, holding the title of the Earl of Norfolk
and owning the four major castles in the region, Framlingham
, Bungay
, Walton
and Thetford
. As part of this effort, Henry confiscated the Bigod castles, from Hugh in 1157. Despite having made earlier promises to protect him, Henry still saw Stephen's son, William, as a potential claimant to the throne, and the king confiscated the castle of Eye as well at the same time. William died in 1159, allowing Henry to formally acquire and thereby legitimise his control of Eye Castle.
Hugh then joined the revolt by Henry's sons in 1173. Eye was attacked by Hugh Bigod in 1173. Although the attack failed, the castle had to be rebuilt. Two square towers were built on the north side of the inner bailey in the late 12th century, possibly contemporaneously with Framlingham
. The castle was protected using the castle-guard
system, under which local lands were granted to minor lords in exchange for the contribution of knights and soldiers for the defence of the castle.
The castle was attacked and sacked in 1265 during the Second Barons' War
; it was subsequently largely abandoned.
was built on top of the motte between 1561-2. In the early 17th century, like many other medieval Suffolk parks, the park of Eye around the castle was broken up and turned into fields.
In the 1830s a workhouse
and a school were built inside the castle bailey. In 1844 the owner, Sir Edward Kerrison
, demolished a later windmill that had been built on the motte, and replaced it with a domestic house. Kerrison had the dwelling built for his batman, who had saved his life at the battle of Waterloo
in 1815. The house resembled a shell keep
, and was built of flint
and had living quarters built into the walls on the south and west. The building fell into ruins, being damaged in high winds during 1965 and collapsing further in 1965. It is now sometimes now referred to as Kerrison's Folly
. The mound and some stone fragments of the original castle still remain intact, and the site is a scheduled monument and a Grade 1 listed building.
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
addition in the town of Eye
Eye, Suffolk
Eye is a small market town in the county of Suffolk, East Anglia, England, south of Diss, and on the River Dove.Eye is twinned with the town of Pouzauges in the Vendée Departement of France.-History:An island...
, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
. Built shortly after the Norman conquest of England
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
in 1066, the castle was sacked and largely destroyed in 1265. Sir Edward Kerrison
Sir Edward Kerrison, 1st Baronet
General Sir Edward Kerrison, 1st Baronet, GCH, KCB was a British Army officer and politician.Kerrison was a Lieutenant-Colenel in the Seventh Light Dragoons when he, with Charles Wetherell petitioned parliament over electoral malpractice in the parliamentary elections for Shafstubry...
built a stone house on the motte in 1844: the house later decayed into ruin, becoming known as Kerrison's Folly in subsequent years.
11th–13th centuries
Eye Castle is a motte and bailey castle, built during the reign of William IWilliam I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
by William Malet
William Malet (Norman conquest)
William Malet is one of the very few proven Companions of William the Conqueror known to have been present at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, as recorded by the contemporary chronicler William of Poitiers...
, who died fighting Hereward the Wake
Hereward the Wake
Hereward the Wake , known in his own times as Hereward the Outlaw or Hereward the Exile, was an 11th-century leader of local resistance to the Norman conquest of England....
in 1071. The Malet family also controlled the surrounding Honour of Eye, a significant collection of estates centring on the castle, and the park
Medieval deer park
A medieval deer park was an enclosed area containing deer. It was bounded by a ditch and bank with a wooden park pale on top of the bank. The ditch was typically on the inside, thus allowing deer to enter the park but preventing them from leaving.-History:...
of Eye. The castle motte is 160 feet (49 m) in diameter and 40 feet (12 m) high, with the bailey approximately 400 feet (122m) by 250 feet (76 m) wide. The castle is unusual in being only of two castles mentioned in the Domesday book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
on 1086 as a source of income for their owners, due to the presence of a market
Market
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...
within the castle, bailey, from which the owner drew revenue; the castle's market competed with the Bishop of Norwich
Bishop of Norwich
The Bishop of Norwich is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers most of the County of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The see is in the City of Norwich where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided...
's market at Hoxne
Hoxne
Hoxne is an anciently established village in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, about five miles east-southeast of Diss, Norfolk and one-half mile south of the River Waveney...
.
William Malet's son, Robert
Robert Malet
Robert Malet was an English/ Norman baron and a close advisor of Henry I.-Biography:Malet was the son of William Malet, and inherited his father's great honour of Eye in 1071. This made him one of the dozen or so greatest landholders in England...
, was exiled and after his defeat at the battle of Tinebrai in 1106, Eye was confiscated by Henry I
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
and became a royal castle for a period. Henry gave Eye to his favoured nephew, Stephen of Blois
Stephen of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
in 1112. Stephen suceeded to the English throne in 1135 and he gave the honour of Eye first to one of his lieutenants, William of Ypres
William of Ypres
William of Ypres , styled count of Flanders, was King Stephen of England's chief lieutenant during the English civil wars of 1139–54...
and then later to Hervey Brito, his son-in-law. At some point during the 1140s, Stephen then transferred the lands to his second son, William. William was still young at the time, and it appears that until he came of age these lands were initially managed by Stephen's trusted Royal Steward, William Martel
William Martel
William Martel was a steward of the royal households of King Henry I and King Stephen of England. He was castellan of Sherborne Castle until 1143....
. Meanwhile, the civil war known as the Anarchy
The Anarchy
The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter was a period of English history during the reign of King Stephen, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government...
had broken out between Stephen and the Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda , also known as Matilda of England or Maude, was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry to survive to adulthood...
between 1138 and 1154; much of the fighting occurred in East Anglia, where the powerful Bigod family, headed by Hugh Bigod
Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk
Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk was born in Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire, England.He was the second son of Roger Bigod , Sheriff of Norfolk, who founded the Bigod name in England...
, attempted to expand their autonomy and influence. Eye Castle did not play a major role in the war as, despite some skirmishing occurring in the region, most of the campaigning was conducted to the west.
After coming to power in 1154, Henry II
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
attempted to re-establish royal influence across the region. Partially as a result of the civil war, Hugh Bigod had come to dominate East Anglia by the late 12th century, holding the title of the Earl of Norfolk
Earl of Norfolk
Earl of Norfolk is a title which has been created several times in the Peerage of England. Created in 1070, the first major dynasty to hold the title was the 12th and 13th century Bigod family, and it then was later held by the Mowbrays, who were also made Dukes of Norfolk...
and owning the four major castles in the region, Framlingham
Framlingham Castle
Framlingham Castle is a castle in the market town of Framlingham in Suffolk in England. An early motte and bailey or ringwork Norman castle was built on the Framlingham site by 1148, but this was destroyed by Henry II of England in the aftermath of the revolt of 1173-4...
, Bungay
Bungay Castle
Bungay Castle is in the town of Bungay, Suffolk by the River Waveney.-Details:Originally this was a Norman castle built by Roger Bigod, around 1100, which took advantage of the protection given by the curve of the River Waveney...
, Walton
Walton Castle
Walton Castle is a 17th Century, Grade II listed castle set upon a hill in Clevedon, North Somerset, on the site of an earlier Iron Age hill fort.-History:...
and Thetford
Thetford Castle
Thetford Castle, also known as Castle Hill and Castle Mound, usually refers to a medieval motte and bailey castle in the market town of Thetford in the Breckland area of Norfolk, England, although it can also refer to Red Castle, built in the same town...
. As part of this effort, Henry confiscated the Bigod castles, from Hugh in 1157. Despite having made earlier promises to protect him, Henry still saw Stephen's son, William, as a potential claimant to the throne, and the king confiscated the castle of Eye as well at the same time. William died in 1159, allowing Henry to formally acquire and thereby legitimise his control of Eye Castle.
Hugh then joined the revolt by Henry's sons in 1173. Eye was attacked by Hugh Bigod in 1173. Although the attack failed, the castle had to be rebuilt. Two square towers were built on the north side of the inner bailey in the late 12th century, possibly contemporaneously with Framlingham
Framlingham Castle
Framlingham Castle is a castle in the market town of Framlingham in Suffolk in England. An early motte and bailey or ringwork Norman castle was built on the Framlingham site by 1148, but this was destroyed by Henry II of England in the aftermath of the revolt of 1173-4...
. The castle was protected using the castle-guard
Castle-guard
Castle-guard was an arrangement under the feudal system, by which the duty of finding knights to guard royal castles was imposed on certain manors, knight's fees or baronies. The greater barons provided for the guard of their castles by exacting a similar duty from their sub-enfeoffedknights...
system, under which local lands were granted to minor lords in exchange for the contribution of knights and soldiers for the defence of the castle.
The castle was attacked and sacked in 1265 during the Second Barons' War
Second Barons' War
The Second Barons' War was a civil war in England between the forces of a number of barons led by Simon de Montfort, against the Royalist forces led by Prince Edward , in the name of Henry III.-Causes:...
; it was subsequently largely abandoned.
14th–21st centuries
By the 14th century, Eye Castle lay largely in ruins, although parts of the castle continued to be maintained as a prison. Despite the ruined nature of the castle, the local estates previously subject to the castle-guard system continued to return their dues, now converted into monetary rents, to the owners of Eye Castle for many years. A windmillWindmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...
was built on top of the motte between 1561-2. In the early 17th century, like many other medieval Suffolk parks, the park of Eye around the castle was broken up and turned into fields.
In the 1830s a workhouse
Workhouse
In England and Wales a workhouse, colloquially known as a spike, was a place where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment...
and a school were built inside the castle bailey. In 1844 the owner, Sir Edward Kerrison
Sir Edward Kerrison, 1st Baronet
General Sir Edward Kerrison, 1st Baronet, GCH, KCB was a British Army officer and politician.Kerrison was a Lieutenant-Colenel in the Seventh Light Dragoons when he, with Charles Wetherell petitioned parliament over electoral malpractice in the parliamentary elections for Shafstubry...
, demolished a later windmill that had been built on the motte, and replaced it with a domestic house. Kerrison had the dwelling built for his batman, who had saved his life at the battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
in 1815. The house resembled a shell keep
Shell keep
A shell keep is a style of medieval fortification, best described as a stone structure circling the top of a motte.In English castle morphology, shell keeps are perceived as the successors to motte-and-bailey castles, with the wooden fence around the top of the motte replaced by a stone wall...
, and was built of flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
and had living quarters built into the walls on the south and west. The building fell into ruins, being damaged in high winds during 1965 and collapsing further in 1965. It is now sometimes now referred to as Kerrison's Folly
Folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
. The mound and some stone fragments of the original castle still remain intact, and the site is a scheduled monument and a Grade 1 listed building.