Making good use of my English Heriage Membership.

My friends Rebecca and Stuart and I were at a loss what to do today and I casually mentioned Rising Castle and Castle Acre priory were open today and we thought that will do.

Thank you to Stuart for the homemade Sausage and Bacon sandwich.

Stuart sort of likes a beer and we headed for Beers of Europe but I took them on a detour to

Holy Trinity, Stow Bardolph.

My selling point was it contained something they would never have seen in a parish church

You head to the Hare Chapel, ignore some fine monuments and find a mahogany case with the following inscription

I waited to open the case until they were in position and ....

They  were surprised ;)

The effigy is in wax to Sarah Hare who died in 1744 aged 50.  She herself wanted to be remembered this way as is dressed in her own clothes... The Hare family are the local bigwigs and there are memorials to them in the Hare chapel some from the 21st century.

This more traditional monument is of Sarah's sister Susannah and is by the great William Scheemakers,

So after a stop for beer...
Rising Castle... Rising was built in the late 1130's early 1140's. It was home to Queen Isabella when she fell from power. Isabella (the She Wolf) was wife to Edward II him who died of the red hot poker fame (it probably is a myth but hey) It fell into disrepair (nothing to do with the English Civil War). It was in the care of English Heritage but is now managed by Baron Howard of Rising but EH members get in for free.

Random fact it was used as the German Castle in 'allo 'allo!

We wandered to the village of Castle Acre. Lunch was at the Ostrich pub... I had a pint of Ostrich ale and fish and chips.

St James the Great, Castle Acre

The priory is one of my favourites. It s a  cluniac foundation dating to the mid 12th century. Alas at the moment there is lots of scaffolding up and restricted access due to repairs.

I have been to the church and priory many times but never the Castle. Odd but today I broke my duck.

It is much more impressive than I expected with work starting in the 1070's the fortifications were in ruins by 1397. It was built by the  Earl's de Warenne who gave the former parish church of St Mary's (now surrounded by the castle outer bailey walls) to the Cluniacs. A group arrived to settle there and were then given the land where the priory was later built.

a lovely day out with friends and a walk through England History (to quote English Heritage).