Baconsthorpe Castle

The extensive ruins of Baconsthorpe Castle, a moated and fortified 15th-century manor house, are a testament to the rise and fall of a prominent Norfolk family, the Heydons. Over 200 years, successive generations of this ambitious family built, then enlarged, and finally abandoned this castle. Sir John Heydon probably built the strong inner gatehouse during the turbulent Wars of the Roses period, and his son Sir Henry completed the fortified house. In more peaceful times, their descendants converted part of the property into a textile factory, and then added the turreted Elizabethan outer gateway, inhabited until 1920.

Information panels illustrate the story of the Heydon family, builders and owners of the castle.There is also a downloadable audio tour on www.englishheritage.org.uk/audio