English Heritage suggests Baconsthorpe Castle, closed since 2021, may reopen in early summer after repairs to key areas.
They started fixing things in April 2024. They were unsure when it would reopen to visitors, but now, there’s good news! It might reopen early summer.
English Heritage said they fixed key areas, including the inner gatehouse. They also repaired the outer gatehouse and the North East Tower. The moat bridge got some work as well.
Extreme weather made the stones unstable, leading English Heritage to close the site. Now, they are replacing the footbridge over the moat and will fix the parking area, too.
Baconsthorpe Castle belonged to the Haydon family. This Norfolk family lived there since about 1450, staying for about two hundred years.
The Haydons got rich as lawyers and earned even more from wool. Despite great wealth, they handled their estate poorly and gathered big debts.
They tore down much of the castle in 1650, selling the stone to pay their debts. The outer gatehouse survived this demolition.
That gatehouse turned into a home, called Baconsthorpe Hall. It had people living in it until 1920, when one of its towers collapsed.