SWAFFHAM  , a

market town in the south-western parliamentary division of Norfolk, England; It' m . N.N.E. from London by the Great Eastern railway . Pop. of urban district (1901), 3371 . The town lies high, in an open, healthy district . The church of St Peter and St Paul is Perpendicular, a hand-some cruciform structure with central tower, and has a fine carved roof of wood . The town, which has a town-hall and assembly rooms, possesses iron foundries and a considerable agricultural trade, with cattle fairs . At Castle Acre, 4 M . N., are the picturesque ruins of a Cluniac priory, founded shortly after the Conquest by William de Warren . These comprise portions of the church, including the fine west front, arcaded, with three Norman doors and a Perpendicular window, with the chapter-house, cloisters and conventual buildings . The majority of the remains are Norman or Perpendicular . The castle of the same founder has left little but its foundations, but it was erected within the protection of a remarkable series of earthworks, which remain in good condition . These are apparently in part Roman, in part earlier .

The site, on which Roman coins, pottery and other remains have been discovered, was on an

ancient trackway running north and south . It may be noted that de Warren founded a similar castle and priory at Lewes in Sussex . The church of St James, Castle Acre, contains good Early English and Perpendicular work .