Framlingham Castle
Framlingham Castle is one of the finest examples of a mediaeval keepless castle in England. With its twelfth-century curtain wall, magnificent gate-tower and twelve further mural towers, Framlingham was the chief seat of the Earls and Dukes of Norfolk (sic!) for well over four hundred years. From its formative developments in stone in the early twelfth century, through its slighting in 1173-5 and re-development from c.1190 into its present form, this imposing edifice reflected its owners’ might, enclosing the residential buildings befitting the status of such aristocratic families as the Bigods, the Mowbrays and the Howards. As the fifteenth-century historian, Dr. Roger Virgoe, reminds us, ‘it could and did act as the political focus for the entire region – a court in miniature’.
A view of this imposing castle from across the mere: its curtain wall is 44 feet high and 8 feet thick.
As the country moved into a period of peace and prosperity under the Tudors, the need for such mediaeval strongholds amongst the once ‘over-mighty’ nobility was diminished. As a result, from the early sixteenth-century the Howards attempted to bring this emphatically mediaeval structure up to date with a number of red-brick additions. These included windows, a new causeway, surrounds of the coat of arms above the main gateway and, most amusingly, a series of elaborate Tudor chimneys impertinently perched on top of the ancient mural towers.
Framlingham remained the centre of the ducal estates until the Howards, in search of greater comfort and ostentatious display, built their new palace at Kenninghall in c.1520. Even then it was at Framlingham Castle that Mary Tudor was proclaimed Queen in 1553: “the only successful rebellion in Tudor England” (Prof. C.S.L. Davies). In 1572 Framlingham’s decline was accelerated with the execution of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, for treason, and from the 1580s it was downgraded to a prison for religious recusants. The castle was subsequently bought by Sir Robert Hitcham before being bequeathed to Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1636. It was neglected thereafter and most of its interior buildings were pulled down. Fortunately it has since been resurrected to something approaching its former glories and visitors can still enjoy the wonderful views from the wall-walk.