Caister Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

A few kilometres north of Great Yarmouth, in the parish of West Caister, Caister Castle still raises the silhouette of a tall round brick tower above its moat. Built from the 1430s for Sir John Fastolf, a captain enriched by the Hundred Years' War, it ranks among the first great brick residences in England and among the best-preserved ruins of its kind. The complex was arranged in two courts enclosed by a water-filled moat: a main court to the south-west, with its great hall and six-storey corner tower about 29 metres high, and a service court to the north-east, with two-storey round towers at its corners. The brick, in shades ranging from pink to purple, is enhanced with stone quoins and dressings. After Fastolf's death, the castle became the object of a long inheritance dispute recorded in the famous letters of the Paston family, and in 1469 it withstood a two-month siege. Now a partial ruin, it is listed Grade I. Its grounds house a private motor museum; the seasonal visit gives access to the tower and the gardens.