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Castle Acre Priory - Castle Acre, Norfolk (EH)

The substantial remains of Castle Acre Priory form the finest example we have left of the Cluniac order's highly decorated stonework in England. The builder of the close by castle, William de Warrene, had visited the Cluniac abbey at Burgundy some time before 1077 and finding himself the possessor of important lands and titles in England, he established his first abbey at Lewes in Sussex, where his main English base was, after the Norman invasion. The dependant priory at Castle Acre was commenced shortly before 1090 and William's son further endowed it with land around the castle and labour as well as actual building funds. The church was consecrated between 1146 and 1148. As well as endowments from the Warrene family, Castle Acre Priory benefited over the years from other men of high status who wanted to give to the church, such as Scolland, steward of earl Alan of Richmond. Scolland was buried at Castle Acre as befitted one of its most important benefactors. The monks would have said masses for his soul. 

The priory church, used every day by the monks, formed the usual cruxiform shape, with at first, an apsidal east end. This was later extended and squared off in the first half of the fourteenth century. The west end, seen above, has fortunately survived better than the rest of the church and allows us to see the wonderful Romanesque decoration dating from the mid twelfth century. The south tower behind the facade has similarly survived and you can see below the carved, round-headed arches so typical of this time. Both pictures also show the blind arcading with crossed over arches on the ground floor level. The tower's pillar has deeply carved channels, very similar (although smaller in scale) to those at Durham Cathedral.. In the small museum of artifacts recovered from the site on display in the visitor centre, are some decorated glazed tiles which would have further adorned the church.

The numbers of monks fluctuated over the years, partly as a result of finances (the community was seriously in debt in the 1290's as a result of disease in the sheep flocks which was the main earner for them) and partly as a result of the Black Death of 1348/9, but initially housed thirty six. As well as the monks who spent most of their day performing the set rituals and prayers of the order, lay brothers would have worked in the domestic buildings. Politics too affected the priory, with either expensive visits from royalty (Edward I and his Queen Eleanor spent several weeks as guests of the prior in January 1296) or, during the Hundred Years War with France, substantial fines and persecutions by both Edward II and Edward III, who viewed the Cluniac order in England as potential allies of the French.     

Apart from the church itself, the other substantial remain is the adjoining Prior's House, seen above. As the wealth and status of the priory grew, so did the importance of its visitors and, as at elsewhere, this manifested itself in spacious and prestigious dwellings for the Prior and his guests. The upper floor was remodelled in the second half of the fourteenth century, and you can still see the change in stonework. The beautiful oriel windows date from this time. The porch shown on the far right of the picture dates from the sixteenth century and has a very pleasing chequerboard pattern band of stone and flint between the ground and first floor. On entering the porch, you go through the original late twelfth century low rounded archway. Inside the Prior's House are reminders of how beautiful it must once have been, with very finely carved stonework in the prior's chamber and chapel.

The final active chapter of the priory's history came with the suppression of the monasteries under Henry VIII. In 1537, the king's secretary, Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, persuaded the king to give the priory at Lewes to Cromwell and Castle Acre to Norfolk. The supporting estates of the priories were a lucrative acquisition and like all English monasteries, the remaining monks were pensioned off. The lands eventually came into the hands of Sir Edward Coke, whose descendants, the earls of Leicester, still own the site, along with Castle Acre Castle itself.

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