Why so many castles in Suffolk?

The Domesday survey of 1086 is the earliest surviving public record of England and gives remarkable details about land holding, land value and population structure in the late llth century. Suffolk is included in the so-called ‘Little Domesday’ which also covered the eastern counties of Essex and Norfolk.

With a rural population estimated to be around 290,000 for the whole of England, Suffolk carried a population of around 100,000 people. Along with

Lincoln and Norfolk, it was one of the wealthiest counties. This is very evident in Suffolk when one looks at the magnificence of many of its churches like Mildenhall, Long Melford and Blythburgh which owe their existence, admittedly later than the bulk of castle building, to merchants rich from the wool trade, who left vast fortunes to build these cathedral-like structures. Often it is wrongly believed that the battlements around the churches reflect nearby castles. In fact they represent the walls of Jerusalem, and Palm Sunday processions included people shouting or singing from the battlements or walls of the church as though in the holy city.

So, Suffolk with its wealth, good employment prospects, good agricultural land and kind climate became a popular place to live in the middle ages. Many castles were needed to control any potential trouble from the locals, of which in fact there was little after the Norman Conquest. The trouble arose from in-fighting by the local barons. However the answer was not as simple as just the number of people residing in a particular area. Suffolk is England’s most easterly county and so was prone to attack from the Vikings. Using the rivers like medieval motorways, they were able to make lightning raids into the heart of the county and the coast. It was no coincidence that Bungay Castle overlooked the River Waveney. Dunwich, Burgh Castle and Ipswich all suffered from these attacks and the baileys around their castles became refuges for the local population.

A castle was also a sign of status. The county was full of colourful characters eager to stamp their authority on their feudal serfs and also to outdo a neighbouring baron. Families like the Bigods, de Clares and Malets featured prominently in the life of the country and their castle building reflected the favour each found from his monarch. Orford was built to exercise the king’s influence in Suffolk as families like the Bigods threatened the monarch himself.