During the twelfth century, the powerful Bigod family established an important manorial hall at Walton, which was successively rebuilt and enlarged over the next two centuries using material from the old castle and Caen stone from Normandy for ornamental windows and doors. Hugh Bigod also held a castle at Walton, but was obliged to surrender it to King Henry II in 1157. Henry then stationed a royal garrison there until 1173, when the rebel Earl of Leicester landed there to join the Bigods. The Bigod castle, according to the chronicler Diceto, had a high tower set up with very strong walls. Henry ordered its demolition in 1178. King John was staying at Walton Hall in 1200 when he ratified the original Town Charter of Ipswich. Large ruins of the old hall remained in the eighteenth century, and the last major portion of wall fell during a high storm in the 1880s. It stood near the Felixstowe cricket ground on Dellwood Avenue.
