Bloodgate Hill Iron Age Fort in South Creake and Creake Abbey, Norfolk..........

... an important example of a hill fort constructed between two and three thousand years ago and purchased in 2003 by the Norfolk Archaeological Trust to protect it from further ploughing and cultivation damage.  The meaning of the word Bloodgate is unknown but is taken from the road along which the hill fort stands. The round earthwork here, 210 metres in diameter, is the largest of at least six Iron Age forts in Norfolk.  Bloodgate Hill has a commanding position with fine views eastward and northward towards the sea. 

 

 

 

 

The bank is now only slight, but would once have been imposing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...... a lot of dog owners must need to wear glasses as they seem to not see the signs that read "Dogs to be kept on a lead".  I regularly have my eyes tested!

 

 

Source:- the information boards at the site. 

 

And then on to Creake Abbey ..... which began as a small church or chapel founded in 1206 for the private use of Sir Robert de Nerford and his wife Lady Alice.  They transformed it into a hospital.  A decade later when the community adopted the rule of St Augustine, Creake became a priory and King Henry III (my ancestor according to my granddad!) became its patron in 1231.  In 1484 the abbey was destroyed by fire but Richard III gave a donation towards the rebuilding (generous folks were my rellies!).  The abbey and its property passed to the crown in 1506 after being struck by the plague and abandoned.  Henry VII's mother Margaret Beaufort used the Creake estates to endow her new foundation of Christ's College in Cambridge.

 

Source:  the information boards at the site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

... these humans and their funny signs....!

 

 

 

Two atmospheric and beautiful sites in Norfolk.  Next stop Warham Camp and Binham Abbey!