Castle Acre: Plan for new Coronation Meadow beside priory

Castle Acre is among a list of sites announced by English Heritage, including castles and abbeys, prehistoric stone circles and palaces.

From Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain to the Jewel Tower in the heart of Westminster, it plans to create "a natural legacy" by establishing flower-rich grasslands, restoring those that have been lost, and enhancing those that already exist. 

Of Castle Acre, near Swaffham, it says: "One of the largest and best-preserved monastic sites in England, the 11th century priory sits alongside the impressive earthworks of a Norman castle.

The ruined priory at Castle Acre (Image: Rachel Farrow)

"A meadow will be created from an existing area of grassland on the eastern edge of the site, working with local volunteers and wildlife groups to encourage more wildflowers, insects and birds."

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Kate Mavor, English Heritage’s chief executive, said: “The King’s coronation is a significant moment in history and we wanted to mark it in a meaningful way, in a way that combines two of His Majesty’s passions – nature and heritage.

"We’re creating more natural spaces at the heart of our historic properties, ensuring that wildflowers and wildlife can flourish there once again, and helping our visitors to step back into history and experience something with which the sites’ historic occupants would have been familiar.

The ruined castle at Castle Acre (Image: @dinky1711)

“In a decade’s time, our coronation pledge will be an inspiring legacy of established, restored and new meadows at 100 of our historic sites – big and small – right across England."

The UK has lost 97pc of its meadows since the 1930s. But English Heritage says there are "an abundance of sites" where meadows could flourish.

It plans to work with conservation charity Plantlife, wildlife groups and volunteers to recreate them.