Monument Type(s):

• POSTERN (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)

Summary

The site of a medieval date postern.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA1981 - 1960 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA7590 - 2015 Conservation management survey of the town walls, Shrewsbury, by SCAS

Description

The great breach made in the town wall [PRN 01095] when the Crescent houses were built included the site of a tower called Wingfield's Tower. It had guarded Chadlode. (Now Belmont and the Crescent Water Lane) <1a>
The gate lay immediately opposite the end of Priest's Lane, and in 1304 it is referred to as the postern called Seynt Chaddelode and the gate of St Chad's College <1b>
Speed shows a gate almost opposite the end of Belmont, but no additional tower <1c>

The Burghley Map shows a tower at this point that may represent this gate, or may represent the surviving tower a short distance to the west [PRN 10618]; Speed's map shows a gate rather than a tower more or less at the bottom of Belmont. Rocque's map of 1746 shows a gap in the town wall at the bottom of Milk Street (Belmont), but a structure projecting from the outer face of the wall offset a short distance to the west, close to the surviving tower. Note: the relationship between Belmont/Milk Street, the town wall, and the dog-leg course of Crescent Lane outside the wall is peculiar: why are they not in a continuous line? <2>

A conservation management plan was prepared in 2015 for the entire circuit of town walls surrounding Shrewsbury (excluding around Shrewsbury Castle at the NE corner). This provides a general historic overview of the development of the town defences, together with detailed analysis and management recommendations for individual sections (in gazetteer form in volume 2). This feature is identified as 10d. <3>

<00> Shropshire County Council SMR, Site and Monuments Record (SMR) cards, SMR Card for PRN SA 01448 (Card index). SSA20722.

<01c> Speed J, 1610, Speed's Plan of Shrewsbury (Map). SSA5574.

<01a> Davies R E, 1909/ 1912, Town Walls of Shrewsbury, p181-182 (Article in serial). SSA5571.

<01b> Hobbs J L, 1954, Street Names of Shrewsbury, p24 (Monograph). SSA365.

<01> Ordnance Survey, 1960, Ordnance Survey Record Card SJ41SE47.5 (Card index). SSA10683.

<02> Baker Nigel J, UAD Analysis (SMR comment). SSA20432.

<03> Hannaford Hugh R, 2015, Shrewsbury Town Walls: a conservation management plan (2 volumes), Gazetteer 10d (Management report). SSA28223.

Sources

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