Burgh Castle 1874 Whites Directory

Transcribed by Colin Ager

Burgh Castle Public Houses

BURGH CASTLE, a Roman remain, near the confluence of the Waveney and Yare, gives name to one of the most romantic little villages in Suffolk, mostly situated on a boldly rising acclivity, overlooking the marshes on the banks of the rivers, and a large extent of the adjacent country. It is distant nearly 4 miles W.S.W. of Yarmouth, and has in its parish 327 souls, and 1496A. 3R. 1½P. of land. Camden and many other antiquarians, insist the Burgh Castle is the remains of the Garianonum of the Romans; but Spelman and some others place that station at Caister, on the coast two miles N. of Yarmouth, to which the estuary of the Yare formerly extended, prior to the formation of the sand on which Yarmouth stands. No doubt this broad estuary was guarded by a station on either side, but that at Caister was probably a summer camp, dependant on the more formidable fortress of Burgh Castle, of which there are still extensive remains, standing on an eminence near the conflux of the rivers, and forming three sides of a quadrangle, 214 yards in length, and 107 in breadth, and occupying an area of 5A. 2R. 20P., including the walls, which are about nine feet thick, and are constructed of grout-work, faced on the outside with Roman bricks, interlaced in separate courses between layers of cut flint, and supported at intervals by six round towers, or rather solid cylinders, about fourteen feet in diameter, banded likewise with bricks. These towers appear to have been built after the walls, to which they are not joined, except at the summit, where they had each a round hole, two feet deep, and two feet in diameter, designed no doubt for the sentinels, who kept watch while the troops reposed in their tents within the area, which is supposed to have had no other defence on the western side but the waters of the estuary, which formerly washed the foot of the hill. Considering their great age, some parts of the walls are still tolerably entire, particularly on the south and east sides. Their height throughout has been fourteen feet. At the south-west corner is a circular mount, supposed to have been raised by the Saxons, who occupied the fortress after the departure of the Romans. The south tower fell down many years ago. The principal entrance was on the east side, where an adjoining field is supposed to have been the burial place of the garrison, from the great number of Roman urns that have been found in it. These urns are not remarkable either for workmanship or materials, being made from coarse blue clay, brought from the neighbouring village of Bradwell, ill-formed, brittle and porous. In 1756, a space of five square yards was opened in this field; and about two feet below the surface, a great many fragments of urns were discovered, which appeared to have been broken by the ploughs and carts passing over them. One of them, taken up in several pieces, was found to have contained a considerable quantity of bones and ashes, several coins of Constantine, and the head of a Roman spear. In pulling down part of the hill which formed the Praetorium, urns and ashes were found in great abundance, and among them was a stratum of wheat, quite black, as if it had been burnt, and a great part of it reduced to a course powder. At the same time was found a Roman spoon, with a long, sharp-pointed handle. Rings, buckles, fibulae, and other instruments, are frequently found here, as also are coins of silver and copper, mostly of the Lower Empire; and many skeletons were dug up within the area of the castle in 1842. Mr. Ives, in his ample and ingenious remarks on this castle, fixes the era of its erection in the reign of the Emperor Claudius, and conjectures that it was built by Publius Ostorius Scapula, who conquered the Iceni, who were the aboriginal inhabitants of this and the adjacent counties. We are informed in the Notitia Imperii, that this station was garrisoned by the Stablesian horse, under the command of Praepositus, who was sometimes styled Garienninensis, from the estuary which he was appointed to guard.
A little north of the castle, are some vestiges of a monastery, built by Furseus, an Irish monk, who, under the patronage of Sigebert, the first Christian King of the East Angles, and Felix, the first Bishop of Dunwich, collected a company of religious persons under the monastic rule, and placed them at Burgh, then called Cnobersburg, after the name of a Saxon chief, who had formerly resided here. On the death of Sigebert, Furseus quitted his monastery at Burgh, and retired to France, after which the establishment gradually dwindled to nothing. The authors of Magna Britannia observe, that, according to a tradition current here, this monastery, after the desertion by the monks, was inhabited by Jews, and add, that an old way leading to the entrance, called the Jews’ way, seems to give it some colour of truth. The Domesday survey informs us, that in the time of Edward the Confessor, Stigand, Bishop of Norwich, held Burgh by Soccage. Under William the Conqueror, Radulph Balistarius was lord of this manor, which was always a demesne of the Crown, being held by the tenure of serjeantry, by Roger de Burgh, Ralph, his son, and Gilbert de Weseham, at whose decease, being surrendered into the hands of Henry III., he granted it, with all its appurtenances, to the priory of Bromholm, in Norfolk, to be held by the same tenure. To this religious house the castle and manor belonged till the dissolution, when they reverted to the Crown, in which they remained till they were sold by Queen Mary to Wm. Roberts, town clerk of Yarmouth. Mrs. Lydia Baret, of Thwaite, Norfolk, is now lady of the manor of Burgh Castle, but part of the parish belongs to several other proprietors, a few of whom have neat houses here. The Church (St. Peter) is a small structure, with a round tower, containing three bells; and the benefice is a discharged rectory, valued in K.B. at £6. 13s. 4d., and in 1835 at £400. It is in the patronage of the Crown, and incumbency of the Rev. Charles Green, who has 47A. 3R. 13P. of glebe, and a yearly modus of £369. 10s., recently awarded in lieu of tithes. The Rectory House, rebuilt in 1832 at the cost of about £1000, is a handsome mansion, with pleasant grounds, on the summit of an eminence, from which there is a descent to the marshes through a narrow defile, overshadowed on the south with trees and underwood, almost to the margin of the river, where a winding path passes under the walls of the castle. The Poor’s Allotment, awarded at the enclosure of the common, comprises about 15 acres, let for £27. 10s. a year, which is distributed in coals among the most destitute parishioners. The School was built in 1836, at the cost of about £80, raised by subscription. The main beam in its ceiling was removed from a decayed house, and has a long black letter inscription, showing that the house from which it was removed, was rebuilt by Robert Thorne, the parson, in 1548.