A grand Cluniac priory ruin in a Norfolk village, its carved west front still standing tall beside the River Nar
Open to visitorsan English Heritage site — check opening times and admission before you go
Substantial ruinsruined, but plenty survives above ground
Despite the name, this isn’t a castle at all — it’s the ruin of a Cluniac priory, a monastery of monks following the reformed Benedictine rule of Cluny in France. The Warenne family, Norman earls of Surrey, founded it in the late 11th century, and the same family threw up the earthwork castle a little way off (that’s the separate Castle Acre Castle, a short walk northeast). The showpiece is the west front of the priory church, a tall wall of blind arcading and interlaced Norman carving that has kept its full height since the roof came off. The prior’s lodging next to it survives well enough to walk through, complete with its own little chapel, and the monks’ latrine block was flushed by a channel drawn off the river. Henry VIII’s dissolution closed the priory in the 1530s and the rest was robbed for stone over the centuries. English Heritage looks after the site, which sits on the edge of the village of Castle Acre by the River Nar, close to the Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast Path.
More at the National Heritage List entry
