Monument Type(s):

• COLLEGIATE CHURCH (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)
• PARISH CHURCH (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)

Summary

Scheduled Monument: The site of a church which appears to have begun as the chapel for Shrewsbury Castle in the 11th century and at least for a while to have had its own small parish and college of priests. It was closed and in ruins at least by the early 17th century, probably earlier.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA1959 - 1960 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA7889 - 2001 DBA and building survey of Shrewsbury Castle by Richard K Morriss

Description

HISTORY: Collegiate Church or Royal Free Chapel possibly founded before 1086 and dissolved c 1409 and granted to Battlefield College. (PRN 00981) <1a>
The church had become ruinous by 1373 and an inquiry was made in 1394 to ascertain the cause. It is not known if it was subsequently restored <1b>
LOCATION: According to Knowles and Hadcock [<1a>], in the castle, but shown on Speed's map of 1611 east of the castle and by the river <1c>

UAD NOTE: The church does not appear on Speed's map, the symbol in question on the original map almost certainly representing the stone tower on the motte (62505) and not a church. However, an unroofed and ruinous building shown on the Burghley Map c.1575 may represent the church, and has been used as the basis of the speculatively-placed point in the UAD cartography. The church was ruinous in 1605 when its stones were to be viewed before being carted away [<1b><5>]. The church's most likely origin is as a castle chapel, in the 1060s or 1070s; it had a small fragmented rural parish including the village of Ford, but may formerly have covered the area of the castle itself and a parcel of land immediately to the north, probably carved out of (and later re-absorbed into) St Mary's [<6>] <7>

Evaluated for MPP in 1990-1, Low score as one of 15 Colleges <8>

Outline documentary history of the chapel. The chapel was described as being ruinous by 1373, according to an inquiry carried out in 1394 to ascertain the cause. Continued to be mentioned in deeds up until the 17th century. A further reference to the chapel being in ruins occurred in 1605, at which point some of the remains appear to have been dismantled. However, final demolition does not appear to have happened until later in the 17th century. Documentary evidence would indicate that the ruined roofless building shown just inside the main castle gate was the chapel. <9>

Elements of the possible site of the chapel were possibly identified in geophysical survey carried out in 2019 as part of a Castle Studies trust fund programme of investigation at the castle. Some of these responses may also be identified with greenhouses which are known from the late 19th century mapping to have existed at this location. <10>

Sources

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.