CAISTER CASTLE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18889, 12 October 1929, Page 19 (Supplement)

CAISTER CASTLE.

Caister Castle, near Yarmouth, ts the earliest castle built of bricks. This is noteworthy, for brick was a material scarcely ever used for building defensive works. It was erected by Sir John Fastolfe, whose name is supposed to have suggested Falstaff to Shakespeare. Sir John Fastolfe fought at Agincourt, Ilarfleur, and Verneul. Caister was a magnificient residence in his day; now it is a shell of brick, but the moat is still filled with water. The next possessors of Caister Castle were the Paston family, to whom we owe the “ Paston letters,’* This celebrated collection of 1006 letters is most valuable, as it illustrates better than any history the real inner home life of our forefathers. The letters cover the periods from 1424 to 1509, through the reigns of Henry VI, Edward IV, Edward V, Richard 111, Henry VII, to the accession of Henry VIII. The family became of considerable importance, and took their name from Paston, on the coast of Norfolk. Most of the letters are addressed to John Paston, Esq., who died in 1466, to Sir John Paston, his son, who died in 1479, and to John Paston, of Gelston, who died in 1563.