オルトン周辺のアトラクション＆必見スポット - トップ20

One of Norfolk's signature round tower churches.

2024 closed for conservation but can be viewed.

Closed for restoration work as of Aug/Sept 2023, but you can still view from the car park. Baconsthorpe Castle is a moated and fortified 15th century manor house, that 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, whose memorial can be seen in Baconsthorpe Church, 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 (https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/baconsthorpe-castle/)

One doesn't see many castles being built these days, but this one is well under way.

As of 9th May 2023, parts of Marriotts Way north of Drayton are a total mudbath and only suitable for MTBs. The surface coming into Norwich is worn out and bumpy but at least dry.

Journeying between Aylsham and Norwich, Marriott's Way is a traffic free trail for hikers and cyclists. It follows the routes of two disused railway lines for 26 miles (42 km). The route makes an intriguing curve, known as the Themelthorpe Loop, around Reepham which can be made into a circular hike of around six miles (10 km). This was said to be the sharpest railway bend in the UK and was created to join the two railway lines. For more information see the guidebook https://www.marriottsway.info/assets/marriotts-downloads/guides/Marriotts-Way-Guide-Book.pdf

Here lies the ruins of the 15th century fortied Baconsthorpe Castle, complete with moat, which was once home to the Heydon family. Part of the property was converted for use as a textile factory, while the later addition of the turreted gatehouse was lived in until the 1920s. The site is managed by English Heritage: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/baconsthorpe-castle/

This is a slightly tapering tower with Y tracery in its belfry openings. It dates from the late 13th / early 14th century, but was rebuilt from the first floor upwards in 1886/7, though possibly the belfry stonework was re-used. It is circular all the way up and has a battlemented parapet. The nave west wall shows the width of the earlier church as it still has its ferricrete quoins showing within the wall, though the church was widened in the 13th century. This old part of the wall also includes much random ferricrete. The south nave wall is rendered with plaster, but the other walls show their flintwork. On both sides the nave has pointed windows with a quatrefoil in the apex, either side of a larger Tudor square-headed window, to let in more light. The chancel has an attractive east window with “butterfly” tracery. The south porch had an upper room, known as a “parvise”, but its window is now blocked. The face of the porch is covered with white flints and there is a gable cross. The present tower arch is Tudor, dating from 16th century. In the south-west corner is a doorway to access the stairs to the parvise above the porch. More: https://www.roundtowerchurches.net/norfolk/norfolk-c-g/gresham-2/