Alongside the house arc a number of large properties in a mock Tudor style and cottages for workers on the estate. The large houses would have provided additional accommodation. The house by the moat is in a rather dilapidated condition.
The house is built on ground which was slightly raised when the moat was built. The moat only completes half a square and seems never to have been completed. Perhaps its original intention was only partially defensive and it was used to provide fresh fish for the household.
An aerial view of the property shows a square bailey surrounding the central courtyard in front of the hall. There are outlines of a bailey wall and a round tower in the northern corner. The large grass area in front of the hall could well have been the site of an earlier motte, although there is no mound left.
The manor was originally under the ownership of William the Conqueror’s brother, Odo, who was Bishop of Bayeux. The estate was managed on his behalf by Roger Bigod. Did Roger Bigod build a motte and bailey castle here in the eleventh century? He seems to have built strongholds in every other corner of his land holdings. If so. Little Wen-ham did have a real castle.
There must be few places in the country that can boast three castles in such close proximity. This golden triangle consists of Ilketshall St John, Bungay and Mettingham, but the castles are all quite different in character.
Mettingham castle (not to be confused with Mettingham Hall, which was built around 1600) owes its origin to Sir John de Norwich. On 21st August 1343 he obtained a licence from Edward III to crenellate his manor houses here and in Norfolk at Blackworth (in Stoke Holy Cross) and Lyng in return for his services during the French Wars. Sir John was a vice-admiral in the king’s fleet and had excelled himself in conflicts against the Scots, French and Spaniards.
Sir John’s main battle had been in 1340. England was currently involved in the so-called Hundred Years’ War with France. In 1338 the French had attacked Portsmouth and Southampton. The following year had seen further raids at Folkestone, Dover and into the Thames itself. By the summer of 1340, reports reached Edward that a huge French and Genoese armada was gathering at Sluys on the
Belgian coast. Their aim was to destroy all English shipping, take command of the sea lanes and attack England. Edward III, although not experienced as a sailor and prone to sea sickness, gathered a fleet together. A large number of ships had arranged to gather in the Orwell estuary, possibly under the command of Sir John.
It was a rather motley collection of boats that made its way to Belgium. To Edward it all seemed a bit of an adventure. He even took his musicians with him and a number of court ladies. Mind you, he did make sure the ladies were protected with 300 men-at-arms and 500 archers. The ships met while most of the French fleet was still in the Zwin Channel. The English had 300 boats and the French 400, but many of the French boats were described by a chronicler of the time (Adam Muri-muth) as ‘wooden horses’.
On 24th June, the English found themselves at a great advantage. With the wind and tide behind them the English were able to take full advantage of their archers. The conflict lasted from 8 a. m. to 7 p. m. In the end only 30 French boats escaped. Sir John de Norwich must have been rewarded handsomely for his expertise on that day.
The castle was built on a fairly grand scale and its layout is not dissimilar to Wingfield, except that Wingfield only has the one central courtyard.
The eastle was planned with two baileys or courts of almost equal size, approximately 98 x 87 yards {90 X 80 m) each. Both baileys were originally surrounded by moats up to 30 feet (9 m) wide. They are not complete today.
To the north is the imposing square gatehouse which still stands fairly complete today. This gatehouse has square corner turrets with clear evidence of rooms and the grooves for a portcullis. At the front of the gatehouse are the remains of a barbican. The curtain walls mainly exist only in the north although the plan of the castle is still clearly visible. There are no corner towers left standing {the last fell in the l830s). The flint walls of the castle contain Barnack, sandstone and Caen stone, mainly at the edges. Within the walls, other rooms can be made out. The large building in the north court was probably the original residence of the Norwich family which was converted into the college. There is no evidence of a keep although some sources state that a keep was built by Dame Margaret, widow of Sir John.
It is more than possible that the castle was designed primarily as a status symbol rather than as a defensive structure. However, the castle did face action at least once. In 1381, it was attacked by a hostile mob which was taking part in the Peasants’ Revolt. The outcome of the confrontation is not recorded.
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Sir John dc Norwich died in 1361 and his probable tomb can be seen in Mettingham church. Any further building work probably stopped then. Sir John’s grandson, another Sir John de Norwich, inherited the castle. He died in 1373 and the land was passed to his cousin, Catherine de Brews, a nun at Hartford in Kent. Via the Ufford family, she passed the castle on to a secular college (a community of clergy who did not take monastic vows) founded by Sir John at Raveningham in Norfolk. In 1393, the college moved to Mettingham with a master and 13 chaplains.
The college acted as a boys’ school. The cost was ?2 a year. In return the boys were boarded, clothed, given books and washed!
The boys would have learnt to read and write, copy and illuminate manuscripts, master prick song (music in parts, as opposed to plainsong) and perform the functions of the acolyte. The boys had to have their heads shaved in a tonsure.
The college flourished until the dissolution in 153'5 when the fees were ?28 a year. The revenues were valued at ?202 Is Sd. The master at the dissolution was a Richard Shelton and there were nine fellows.
The castle was granted to Sir Anthony Denny in 1342. Denny appears in Shakespeare’s Hairy VIII. A survey of the ‘olde castell’ dated 1563 describes the place as ‘utterley decayed’.
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