Eye Walk: Town Centre & Castle【4K】

Located in the county of Suffolk, and around 20 miles north of Ipswich, is the town of Eye.

The town's distinctive name derives from an Old English word for 'island', as the initial settlement would have been surrounded by water and marshland formed by the River Dove and its tributaries.

Prior to the Norman Conquest, Eye was in the possession of Edric of Laxfield, one of the largest landholders in Suffolk. Between 1066 and 1071 Norman nobleman William Malet, who is recorded as having fought for William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings, built a castle at Eye. Malet's son Robert later founded a Benedictine priory in Eye, which was ultimately dissolved by Henry VIII during the Reformation.

Eye Castle became the property of Henry I in the early 12th century. In 1173 it withstood an attack from Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk during the Revolt of 1173-1174 against the rule of Henry II. In 1265, during the Second Barons' War, Eye Castle was sacked and subsequently abandoned. A prison within the castle remained in use up until the early 17th century.

Just across the road from Eye Castle is the Church of St Peter & St Paul. This dates from the 14th century, with a 15th century tower and some 19th century restoration. The 33-metre-tall (107 ft) tower was described by famed architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner as 'one of the wonders of Suffolk'. Adjacent to the church is The Guildhall, which dates from the 15th century. Both buildings are Grade I listed.

In the 19th century Sir Edward Kerrison had a false keep built at Eye Castle partly as a folly, and as a house for his batman who had saved his life at the Battle of Waterloo (N.B. batman in this sense is a military term referring to an officer's assistant). Much like the castle itself, the folly fell into ruins after sustaining damage from high winds in 1965.

In 1846 Eye Borough Council failed in its attempt to route the new London-Norwich railway line through Eye. The line, completed in 1849, went instead through Diss ensuring its growth in prosperity and population while the importance of Eye waned (a poke in the Eye, if you will - in case anyone's reading this keeping an Eye out for a pun or two).

Despite missing out on a rail connection to the Great Eastern Main Line which runs between London Liverpool Street and Norwich, Eye did gain a railway station in 1867. This was the terminus of a branch line just two miles long, connecting the town to the village of Mellis, which was part of the aforementioned Great Eastern Main Line. Eye Station closed to passengers in 1931, and Mellis station closed in 1966 as part of the Beeching Cuts. Today, public transport to Eye consists of direct buses from Diss and various other nearby settlements.

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Filmed: 6th March 2024

Link to the walk on Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/PY7yowbr2HdSH...

Filmed on a Sony FDR-AX700 with a Zhiyun Crane 2 and a Sony ECM-XYST1M Stereo Microphone.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Castle Street
2:03 Lowgate Street
3:00 Broad Street
4:33 Church Street
4:52 Cross Street
5:38 Lambseth Street
8:07 Broad Street
8:35 Church Street
13:35 Church of St Peter & St Paul
15:55 Castle Street
17:29 Castle Hill
18:02 Eye Castle