Monument Type(s):

• TOWER (Medieval to Late 18th century - 1066 AD to 1783 AD)
• TOWN WALL (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)

Summary

The site of a medieval tower and town wall.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA1984 - 1960 field observation by the Ordnance Survey (Oct)
• ESA1985 - 1960 field observation by the Ordnance Survey (Nov)
• ESA7590 - 2015 Conservation management survey of the town walls, Shrewsbury, by SCAS

Description

A tower known in recent years as Wheeler's Tower commanded Cordelode and the gate at the top of St John's Hill <1a>
A (C18?) plan of the Town Wall at the end of St John's Hill shows a tower with a cottage alongside called Wheeler's House. The tower projected outside the wall and was rectangular in plan. No scale to the plan, but it appears to site the tower at SJ4888 1232 <1b>
A tower faced the school founded by Mr Allatt and was taken down about 1780 <1c>

The form of the tower may be seen in the 1739 panoramic view 'Shrewsbury...in the Great Frost' (SRRC). This shows a rectangular tower of great height, extending perhaps 3 storeys above parapet level, with a circular stair turret at the north-west corner crowned by a small cupola. The tower may have been demolished in 1783, for in December 1785, Mrs Wheeler complained to the Corporation that c. two years earlier she had been 'disturbed from her habitation' i.e. chucked out of 'the house at the tower annexed to the town walls formerly in possession of the late Benjamin Wheeler' and she wanted compensation [<2>]. J B Blakeway also wrote of a 'large square tower' near the end of St John's Hill, of which 'a road ran on each side...and when it was taken down the northern of these roads was most unfortunately sold to a member of the Corporation to erect a house on, by which means the remaining road is most inconveniently narrow' [<3>] <4>

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 tower is identified as 9e, demolished about 1783. <5>

<00> Shropshire County Council SMR, Site and Monuments Record (SMR) cards, SMR Card for PRN SA 01451 (Card index). SSA20722.

<01b> Anon, Scrap Book of Plans/ Phillips MS (Manuscript). SSA5579.

<01c> Owen H, 1808, Some Account of the Ancient and Present State of Shrewsbury, p75 (Monograph). SSA5372.

<01a> Davies R E, 1909/ 1912, Town Walls of Shrewsbury, p182 (Article in serial). SSA5571.

<01> Ordnance Survey, 1960, Ordnance Survey Record Card SJ41SE47.9 (Card index). SSA5580.

<02> Anon, 1911/ 1912, The Gates: Shrewsbury Town Walls and Towers, p104, 10/05/1912 (Article in serial). SSA10638.

<03> Blakeway J B, 1905, The Topographical History of Shrewsbury (Article in serial). SSA10571.

<04> Baker Nigel J, UAD Analysis (SMR comment). SSA20432.

<05> Hannaford Hugh R, 2015, Shrewsbury Town Walls: a conservation management plan (2 volumes), Gazetteer 9e (Management report). SSA28223.

Sources

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