Keep safe
Stuck indoors the other day, I found myself looking something up in The English Buildings Book, a volume of nearly 400 pages that Peter Ashley and I created for English Heritage about 15 years ago. It impresses me now that Peter managed to produce photographs of more than 700 buildings, ranging geographically from Alnwick to Penzance, in well under two years (while also doing other work) and that I wrote the text for the book in the same time span. While Peter scoured the country, getting scratched by prickly hedges as he backed into them to find the best vantage point for tall churches, or endured a stiff talking-to from a police officer because the building he was photographing was a little more sensitive when it came to security than either of us had realised, I worked my way through all kinds of sources, from obscure items in English Heritage’s library and archive in Swindon to my very familiar and much-used volumes of Pevsner’s Buildings of England series and standard works such as Colvin’s Dictionary. As I thumbed through the book, I happened upon the section on castles, and the sight of the photograph of Orford Castle’s great tower reminded me that I’d been there late in 2019: another pre-lockdown memory.
Orford Castle was built for Henry II in the 1160s and 70s, and the size and solidity of the great tower is a sign of how important this structure was to him. The design is outstanding too. It’s very different from the square towers like Rochester and Colchester erected for the earliest Norman kings. It’s polygonal in shape, but the polygon is complicated and strengthened by three large abutting towers, big enough to contain a sizeable room on each floor. It looks the part, and that was certainly the point – Henry built it as part of his assertion of power when he came to the throne in 1154, just months after the end of the civil war that marked the reign of Stephen. Orford Castle helped him keep control of a part of the country that was home to barons who’d taken the opposing side in the war. In addition, the caste gave Henry’s garrison a vantage point over Orford’s harbour, a potential landing place for enemies holed up in France. When the barons rebelled under King John in 1215, their allies from France took Orford. However the tower survived (a surrounding stone curtain wall has long gone) and still stands to give externally an impression of the building that faced these conflicts. For my money, it’s one of the most impressive of all medieval English castle towers.
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6 comments:
One of those buildings so impressive you can't really believe in them. The windows suggest more of a residence than a fortification - a determined army could camp all around it and light an enormous bonfire to get the defenders out? Judging from the Gwent castles, showing off was part of the exercise - just at the time when the Arthurian mania was beginning - the Romances in French deal with castles in loving detail, e.g. Le Chevalier au Lion: "life is an imitation of art." Finding so much stone in the stone-starved East Anglian peninsula argues a very sophisticated organisation of quarrying and transport. I'd like to hear the opinion of a military expert on some of our castles.
Hello,
One of the great joys of time spent in our Norfolk home, alas infrequently these days, is to embark upon days spent in singling out, and thereby discovering, some of the many very wonderful churches that are to be found throughout East Anglia. Since this has to be done by public transport, we do not drive a motor car, this is not as straightforward as might first appear.
Forays into Suffolk require additional planning although Southwold may be reached directly. Your post here, describing the castle at Orford, is most interesting and has certainly inclined us to follow it up with a visit when next in the United Kingdom. In the meantime, we shall look forward to your future posts.
Jane and Lance: Thank you! Another Suffolk post is coming shortly.
My understanding about Orford is that this keep remaining vied with the one Henry built at Chilham. Orford was one of the first castle keeps on my list when I decided to tackle writing about English castles and I look forward to visiting it sometime in the future along with all the rest. The view from the top of the tower of Orford Ness should be interesting along with seeing those three massive buttresses up close. There surely is no castle tower quite like it anywhere else. I'm sure, also, that the windows were put in much later than the 12th century. I hope someone at least sketched the surrounding curtain. I have seen quite a few recreations of Conisbrough. Every time I see a photo of Orford it renews my excitement about my England project. Thanks for putting it up!
The Castle Lady
Evelyn: Thank you for your comment. Sorry about the delayed response – I've been busy for the last few days. Orford is indeed one of the most spectacular castle towers and unique – although Conisborough is magnificent too. When I climbed the Orford keep, I wished I'd taken a pair of binoculars with me, as there are some interesting things to be seen on the Ness, but it seemed slightly more distant than I though it was.
Evelyn: Thank you for your comment. Sorry about the delayed response – I've been busy for the last few days. Orford is indeed one of the most spectacular castle towers and unique – although Conisborough is magnificent too. When I climbed the Orford keep, I wished I'd taken a pair of binoculars with me, as there are some interesting things to be seen on the Ness, but it seemed slightly more distant than I though it was.
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