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This website is to help generate awareness of and to invite the public to contribute information to add to Castle Rising’s rich and interesting history. The village is seated on the edge of the fenland basin in an area known as the Wash in North-West Norfolk, near the historic town of King's Lynn.


Bordering on Castle Risings parish boundary is the famous Sandringham Estate where the Queen takes up residence from time to time and where Princess Diana spent most of her childhood, yearly events also include, The famous annual Sandringham flower and craft shows, which attracts thousands of visitors. The Sandringham House and Country Park is also famous for its breath taking views of the bright colourful rhododendrons that flowers during the summer months.


Castle Rising also boasts one of the finest and best preserved Norman Castle in the country. Here, in the 14th century, Queen Isabella spent her time in exile, with many royals and noble guests visiting her. Castle Rising also minted its own coins struck during the the reign of King Stephen in 1138-1145 during the period known as the anarchy, disputes between Stephen and Matilda as to who should take the Crown.


The other great attraction in the village is the famous Trinity Hospital founded by the Earl of Northampton in 1614. Local legend suggest that there was an ancient port here before that of King's Lynn. It was possibly shared by the now deserted medieval village of Babingley with its ruined church of St. Felix, its few surviving buildings. Babingley is the suggested landing place of St Felix from where the Saxons spread the word of Christianity to the East Angles (East Anglia) in approximately 630 A.D.


Silver Carr was quarried here by the Romans, transported by sea and used in the construction of the Roman shore fort in Brancaster recently excavated by the Time Team.


With ongoing research, it is our intension to promote as much of our findings as possible on this website. Sometimes we come across some small but interesting pieces but worth publishing,


The majority of our material is researched from primary sources and usually gives a reliable account of our village history.

Where possible we also try to provide a reference to our findings so others can follow our work.  Due to the size of some files this site uses PDF files to display content to help minimise the time when opening a page so please be patient.


Please note this website is for educational purposes, therefore some content may be subject to copyright.

Social history  |  family history  | genealogy  |  ancestry |  lord of the manor  | village life  | sea port | manorial | parish boundaries | leet court | sandringham| babingley

Advice to genealogists or family history enthusiasts who might be using this website

We have included in this website as much information as possible about people who have lived in the village in the past. For this we have transcribed the information from all the censuses (from 1841 to 1911) as many of the baptism, marriage and burial records from the parish which we have been able to find (Baptisms from 1573 -1652; 1813-1886. Marriages from 1571-1642; 1707 -197; Burials from  1571 – 1642; 1707 -1975). We have also transcribed the male attendees at the ancient parish Leet Court, which was where the men of the village (aged 14 and over) met annually to choose Mayors, Constables and other dignitaries. This event took place until 1835 and our earlier records are from 1642.

All these records can be found in our website in the section marked Social History and then press the link Parish Records.  Hope you will find this information helpful. For further information contact f.cooke1@btinternet.com or sylviacooke1@gmail.com We are interested in any information you may have of people who used to live in the village and may be able to share information with you.