Visiting Hunworth was fun! One really wouldn’t expect to see a glacial escarpment just like the one that is located in the village in Norfolk — at least I didn’t, based on my past experiences. There are cliff-faces and other structures, but this place here heralded back to the when your neighbourly glacier was just about here. Of course, these notes have ignored the castle and its premise, but this ridge made a perfect place for a castle.
I was there on a cloudy day and the trees were not in full leaf yet either — nevertheless, the place had some definite charm! I could easily imagine the view one might have experienced on that bright summer’s day which Norfolk sees ever so often. If one would have turned around at that spot, they would have seen the place where the castle used to stand.
In reality, we know very little about the place. It is believed that a timber fortification on top of the hill guarded two passes on the River Glaven. From that site, I can easily believe it. What strikes me a bit odd is that no one figured out that to fortify this place more strongly would give them even more leverage. That said, perhaps water and other supplies would have been scarce on top of the hill and this would have been suboptimal.
These ideas will easily come to the mind of one wandering about Hunworth, because, really, the place is just perfect for the armchair medieavalist, especially one who can let the facts pass a bit and draw on their own imagination. And, that is what one must do here because the facts tell us so little…
Another flight of imagination had struck some of the (presumed) villagers; perhaps people with a keen sense of humour. What these people had done is bring up two plastic chairs and set them to view the landscape beneath — much like, once upon a time, the lord and lady of this castle would have done though I think their keep or hall would have been a bit further back. Our imagination can still build an open balcony to that building, or perhaps a tower-house with a viewing port.
