Monument Type(s):

• CASTLE (Late Saxon to Medieval - 800 AD? to 1540 AD)
• MANOR HOUSE? (Late Saxon to Medieval - 800 AD? to 1540 AD)
• CROSS WING HOUSE? (Medieval to 17th century - 1066 AD to 1699 AD)
• HALL HOUSE (Medieval to 17th century - 1066 AD to 1699 AD)
• TITHE BARN? (Medieval - 1066 AD? to 1540 AD?)

Summary

Possible site of a manor house or castle of probable late Saxon to medieval date; foundations possibly relating to the site were discovered, but were subsequently covered up. In 2017, a trial trench across this area recorded the remains of an early brick, cellared, cross-wing, probably to a medieval hall lying to the SE, considered indicative that the core of the castle complex lay to the SE.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA4265 - 1960 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA7042 - 2003 DBA and walkover survey at Holy Trinity Church, Meole Brace by Nigel Baker
• ESA8242 - 2016/7 DBA and WB on shovel test pitting, Meole Brace Castle Site, adj Meole Hall Gardens by N J Baker (Ref: 17/01796/FUL)
• ESA8368 - 2017 Trial trenching on site of Meole Brace Castle by Nigel Baker (Ref: 17/01796/FUL)
• ESA9810 - 2018 WB on ground reduction on the site of Meole Brace Castle, Shrewsbury by Nigel Baker (Ref: 17/01796/FUL)

Description

Eyton stated that at Meole Brace there was a fortified dwelling, a dilapidated tower, and other buildings, very poor, documented in an Inquest of 1273 in respect of the holdings of George, Baron Cantilupe. Time of Edward I <1a><1b>

There are further references to the castell in 1538 and in the reign of Charles II. Unlikely to be a motte, since it appears that no such erections were permitted within a six mile radius of Shrewsbury <1d>

In the time of Archdeacon Butler intersecting foundations were discovered where the castle is marked, but that he had them covered at once. <1e>

A manor house stood near to the church until its demolition after the Conquest. <2>

The manor house appears to have been fortified from at least the later 13th century. The earliest reference found to it is in January 1217 of litigation over the ownership of the manor that had begun eight years earlier. Then it was simply described as the capital messuage. However, at an inquest of 1273 it was called a tower and said to be accompanied by 'other buildings, very poor, but extended at 2s per annum, independently of the tower.' It is later recorded as a manor house and castle. The 'old castle house' and the tithe barn adjoining were said by Blakeaway to have been burnt down in 1669. He identified its site as that of the Castle Bank, in the grounds of the hall, the spot identified by the Ordnance Survey from the 1880s. <3>

Further assessment work, and observation of shovel test-pitting was undertaken of the site marked as that of Meole Castle, in late 2016. Includes an overview of the documentary history from the site and considers why no above ground traces might remain. The probability is that at Meole Brace was a manor house with a ‘solar tower’, not dissimilar to that surviving at Wattlesborough Hall, Shropshire, from the mid-13th century. Externally similar to a small Norman tower keep but only c.20-feet square internally, it was detached from the other buildings, and kept simple internally with one great chamber (the solar) at first-floor level. Such a building need not have had any further defensive features, nor perhaps a defended perimeter. In such a case, a building of this kind might well, after destruction by fire, have been robbed-out down to its footings leaving little or no trace above ground. It has to be said however that there is no sign of the re-use, in local buildings and garden walls, of any masonry blocks with early characteristics. Test-pitting located one area of early brick rubble, which may accord with reports of the foundations that Archdeacon Butler encountered in the early 19th century. <4>

Following a desk-based assessment and observation of test-pits late in 2016 [see <4>], an evaluation trench was excavated in August 2017 on the traditional site of Meole Brace Castle, as indicated by the first edition Ordnance Survey plans (NGR SJ 4868 1058); the castle, or manor house, is said to have burnt down in 1669. ->

-> The excavation trench for the most part encountered natural glacial gravel immediately under the topsoil. However, a deep negative feature at the south-west end of the trench proved to be a robber-trench for a stone- and brick-walled cellar; this building may have been of early 17th-century date. Building materials in the fabric and in the demolition deposits suggest the presence on site of a high-status medieval building. The excavated building is interpreted as an early brick, cellared, cross-wing, probably to a medieval hall lying along the gradient to the south east. It is indicative that the core of the Meole Brace Castle complex probably lay against the gradient above the Rea Brook floodplain in the south-east corner of the land parcel identified for the new dwelling. ->

-> Report includes an assessment of artefacts recovered during the excavation. <5>

A watching brief was carried out in 2018 on the machine reduction of ground levels on the site of Meole Brace Castle which was located in fieldwork in 2017 [<5>]. This recorded no further in situ archaeological deposits, but produced a small assemblage of sherds and one complete, and pieces of three further plain floor tiles. The medieval tiles were suggested as having been re-used from adjacent high-status buildings. <6>

Notes from NRHE. Eyton (<1a><1b>) says that at Meole Brace there was a fortified dwelling, a dilapidated tower, sometime a residence of the Cantilupes, standing at the time of Edward I. The "castell" is also mentioned in 1538 and in the reign of Charles II.
Referring to Norman Castle Mounds, L.F. Chitty (<1d>) says it would appear that Shrewsbury permitted no such erections within a radius of six miles, unless the tower at Meole Brace was in this category; and, further to the tower, with reference to (<1e>) she says that in the time of Archdeacon Butler, interesting foundations were discovered where the castle site is marked, but that he had them covered at once. <7>

The site is tree covered and there is no trace of any defensive earthworks. The site is on the crest of the West scarp of the Rea Brook valley, but the highest point is occupied by the Churchyard. <7a>

Sources

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