Norfolk, the letter-press of which informs us that it is one of the finest specimens of Norman architecture left in this kingdom. "Yet this was altered," says he, "late in the fifteenth century, by the introduction of the great west window, and the substitution of the pointed doorway to the nobler Norman entrance and this was probably done that no great body of light might be admitted, but through the painted glass of the new window above." The lower moulding of the interior arch to the great doorway is considerably more flattened than the upper. A similar arrangement of moulding may be seen in the church of Bieville.-Vide Cotman's Normandy. "A little towards the east of the priory, on a rising ground, stood the CASTLE, the seat of the earls Warren: from the south to the north including, with all its outworks and fortifications, about eighteen acres of ground, in a circular form through this there is a way or street, now called the Bailey street, with houses on each side running directly north and south. At the entrance of this street on the north, `stands a stone gate-house with two round bastions, which had two doors, an inward and outward one, with a portcullis in the middle, and no doubt there was another at the entrance of this street on the south side as you come from Swaffham, as appears from some marks still remaining. Near the north gate on the east side of the street was a chapel for the castle, the walls of which are still standing, and is now a dwelling-house; and on the east side of the said street, near the middle of it, was a strong stone gate-house, leading into the outward court of the great castle, which was circular, inclosed with a strong and lofty wall of freestone, flint, &e., and embattled, seven feet thick, a considerable part of which is still remaining, with a deep ditch or entrenchment, and a lofty embattled wall round it. Within this was the keep, and across this deep ditch or entrenchment, are three lofty walls, at proper distances, which join the castle wall as buttresses, &c." "The whole area of this castle, with its entrenchments and ditches, and an outward wall embattled, as before said, includes about eighteen acres of ground, and reaches near the river, where under this embattled outward wall is a terrace walk, which affords a pleasant and agreeable prospect over the country. The other part of the fortifications lying on the west side of this Bailey street, is called the Barbican, and contains above ten acres of land, was enclosed with deep ditches, entrenchments, and high ramparts. Here king Edward I. was entertained by earl Warren, in January, 1297, and in this castle was a chapel with monks, before the death of the first earl Warren, in 1089." "The Romans seem to have had a station here. Some years since on the west side of this road, in the parish of Fring, some labourers, in ditching, broke up the remains of a pavement, apparently Roman, which the country people, the discovery happening during the time of a fair in a village, broke up and carried away great part of it; Mr. Goodwin, the owner of the ground, as soon as he received information of it, ordered the spot to be carefully covered up, for the future inspection of antiquarians. Coins of Vespasian, Constantine, &c., and a cornelian seal with an emperor's head, and a fine Faustina, shewn by the Rev. James Thom, the vicar, were found there." "From the north part of the present entrenchments there runs a way to Castle Acre Wicken, and from thence proceeds over the country, leaving Massingham and Houghton on the right, and Anmer on the left hand, and is commonly called the Pedder's Way; and between the two last mentioned towns on the said way, may be observed many tumuli, hence it tends in a direct course, leaving Fring a little on the right hand. It is said that the earl of Leicester at one time entertained an idea of building a mansion here, which he afterwards built at Holkham. There is but little doubt that this was a Roman road leading from Thetford to Brancaster. Strong traces of its form, breadth, &c. are still to be seen in many parts, particularly between Harpley Downs and Anmer.' "From the commanding situation of the ruins," says Captain Grose, "this castle must have been very strong. Before the south side of the keep was a considerable area. Mr. Gough is of opinion that this was a Roman station, a vast square ditch running among or behind the houses to the right of the road. Mr. Gilpin, speaking of Castle Acre says, "the ruin of the citadel only now remains, making a kind of ragged appearance, for its form in a good degree is lost." CASTLE RISING. Thirty-nine miles. St. Lawrence. P. 343.-Next to Lynn and Yarmouth this was formerly the most considerable sea port town of Norfolk. It was distinguished, and claims the superiority over all other towns in this hundred,* by a famous castle, that, as Camden says, "vies with the castle of Norwich." This lordship was granted to the Albinis, and to the lords of Montalt, a widow of one of these lords surrendered all her rights for 4001. per annum, to queen Isabel, then regent during the minority of her son Edward III., who had her residence or confinement here during the greatest part of her widowhood after the execution of her favourite, Mortimer, who was buried here. Here, in the fourteenth of Edward III.'s reign, 1340, this king with his queen visited his mother, and made some stay with her, for we find that in this year she sent her precept from this castle to the mayor of Lynn, "for eight carpenters, to prepare for the reception of her son," &c. She died at this castle, and was buried in the Grey Friars' church, London.-Vide Stowe and Grafton. Edward III. settled Castle Rising on his son Edward, which ultimately came to the dukes of Norfolk, the earl of Berkshire, and to the duke of Suffolk, the present possessor. The duke of Norfolk has the title of lord Howard of Castle Rising. Two members of parliament are chosen by the free burghers, their representatives therein. Sir Henry Spelman says, "it has been a famous port, but being stopped up with sands was the cause of its great decay." "Rising was a sea port toun, When Lynn was but a marsh; He says also, "that this is a burgh of such antiquity, that the royal archives and records give no account of it. The site of it such, that he thinks the Romans had a place of defence here, some of their coin being found at this place, and one of Constantine being brought to him. That the sea had formerly its course near to, and came up probably to the By this hundred is meant the hundred of Freebridge Lynn, independent of Marshland, which is bounded on the east by the hundreds of Launditch and Gallow; on the north by Smithdon; on the south by Clackclose and South Greenhoe; and on the west by Lynn Deeps and the Channel. This hundred was given to John earl of Norfolk, who is immortalized by Shakspeare in his Richard III. Hume says, "she never quitted her house at Risings, near London, town, appears in some measure from its being drowned in winter frequently on spring tides, the salt water overflowing the banks between this town and Babingly; and from the name of a street that comes up to this town from the low ground, called Haven Gate Lane, which is very oozy; and in this lane there was dug up a piece of an anchor." An account of the privileges of this borough, surveyed the thirty-first of Elizabeth, may be seen in Blomefield, among which, "that the burgesses have a grant of a fair or free mart, from the feast of St. Matthew, during fifteen days; and two markets in the week, Monday and Thursday.* That the warren hath been by the space of two or three years past, greatly surcharged; the warrener being covenanted to leave for his view 3,800 coneys; he has killed the last year 17,000, and may kill for this year as many or more, his number for view being treble reserved. And by this the cattle stock of six hundred wethers is utterly overthrown, and the inhabitants and tenants of the towns adjoining injured, which will be an occasion of impairing her majesty's rent, and the undoing of the inhabitants, &c.; and that by the increase of these coneys by the warrener, and their breeding in the castle ditches and banks, the same are decayed, and the walls are already in part, and the rest in danger of overthrow. That the said banks and ditches are no parcel of the warren." This ancient burgh, the mayor of which is always called over first and before the mayors of any other borough in the county, at the reading the king's commission of the peace before the judges of the assize, a strong proof of its superior antiquity, was formerly governed by a mayor, recorder, high steward, twelve aldermen, a speaker of the commons, and fifty (or seventy) burgesses. At present the corporation consists of two aldermen, who are alternately mayors. The burgesses who elect the two representatives in parliament, with the mayor and aldermen, (the mayor being the returning officer), are seldom upon the poll more than five or six, and the burge tenures are the property of the earls of Suffolk and Orford. The mayor is chosen annually, the day before St. Michael, by the free burghers or voters, who were about seventy in 1716; but he is not sworn into his office till the These fairs have long been discontinned, but it has a sort of paltry merry-making on or about May-day. court leet, which is held about All Saints day, and has a mace carried before him to church on Sundays, by a sergeant, and on all public occasions. The seal of the corporation or mayor, is a castle. Castle Rising or Rysing Castle, is of much more modern origin than the town itself. It is supposed to have been built about the middle of the twelfth century, by William d'Albini, first earl of Sussex, some time prior to the year 1176. It stands upon a hill on the south side of the town, where is a fine prospect over land and an arm of the sea. Among the shattered and deserted fortresses of England, there are few that present more interesting and bolder features of castrametation and castellated architecture than the above. Its valla and fossæ are works of immense labour, and admirably calculated for protection and security. The inner vallum rises high, and with a quick ascent from a deep ditch. It incloses an almost circular ballium or area, which is several yards below the top of the bank. Near the western end of this ballium is the keep tower, now in ruins; but the shells, with other walls, stairs, windows, and doorways still remain. Mr. Britton, in his Architectural Antiq. gives a plan of this castle, in which he mentions a grand entrance doorway to a broad flight of steps, near the bottom of which was a doorway, and there was another about the middle. At the latter was a flat space or landing-place on the inside, and a hole through the roof to annoy assailants. At the top of these stairs was a handsome ornamented doorway to a vestibule in the square building, at the north-east angle; and another doorway up steps into the grand or state room. The first story floor was divided into several apartments, i. e. two state rooms, with seven smaller, besides passages, closets, &c. Indeed, the remaining features of this floor present an interesting display of the domestic arrangement for the accommodation of an Anglo-Norman nobleman and his household. Here is the upper part of the grand stairs, and the chief doorway (now converted into a fireplace) from the hall of audience to the state room. Another staircase, or approach to this floor, was formed over the stairs already described, and this must have been entered by a ladder which was lowered from a landing-place at the base of the stairs on the east side, and faces the only entrance to the inner ballium. At the intersection of the great |