Monument Type(s):

• (Alternate Type) DESERTED SETTLEMENT? (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1901 AD)
• GARDEN (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1901 AD)
• PARK (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1901 AD)

Summary

The site of a post medieval park and garden, associated with Sibdon Castle Manor House (PRN 11360). Possible earthworks associated with the garden survive.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA7906 - 2016 Field visit to Sibdon Castle Farm by Castlering Archaeology
• ESA7955 - 2016 WB at Sibdon Castle Farm, Long Meadowend, Sibdon Carwood by Castlering Archaeology

Description

Sibdon Castle, north-west of Craven Arms, is supposedly a mid 17th-century building, modernised in the early 18th century and gothicized c.1800. Adjoining the house are castellated kitchen gardens, with a stone building of the early 18th century. An inventory survives of garden implements in 1773. (N. Pevsner, Shropshire (1958), 289; Country Life 141 (1967), 1448). While there are no indications of a park there, it seems probable that in the mid 18th century its new owner, Edward Fleming, carried out some landscaping north-east of the Castle in the form of an avenue of trees running from the west side of Sibdon pool-itself apparently created or enlarged at that time (Country Life 141 (1967) 1449-50; O.S. 6, LXX.NE (1890)) <1>

A complex of earthworks are visible on LiDAR imagery to the N of Sibdon Castle. It is unclear whether they relate to garden features or possibly represent shrunken settlement (although the settlement is not shown on any late 19th century mapping). The features may well indicate parkland features, between the house and with Sibdon Pool at the NE (PRN 21839) laid out in the mid 18th century, although further investigation is required. <4><5>

Sibdon Castle house was altered by Edward Fleming in c.1746 to update its stylistic status after he had purchase the estate from his father Richard Fleming. Edward's ambitious schemes included landscaping on the NE of the house, a fishing pool, kitchen gardens and a tree-lined avenue linking the pool to the house. <6>

A field visit was made in 2016 to land to the north of Sibdon Castle Farm (centred on SO 4116 8323) in association with the erection of an agricultural building within a former paddock. A walkover of the site indicated that no earthworks of an archaeological nature survive within the paddock. The 'lumps and bumps' here are the result of equine paddocking. <7>

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken in 2016 following on from heritage assessment and a field visit (<6><7>) in connection with the erection of a new agricultural building at Sibdon Castle Farm, Sibdon Carwood, near Craven Arms, Shropshire, as a condition of planning approval. ->

-> The watching brief monitored the removal of topsoil and upper strata of subsoil within the grassy paddock which stands on higher ground above the level of the farmyard. The removal of topsoil exposed a shallow layer of stone which appears to represent the alignment of an agricultural track of c.1900 date. The track entered the paddock from the east side and may have led to a wooden shed or stable. The track terminated mid-way across the paddock and there was no structural evidence of a building. No other features were revealed and the few finds recovered were of late 19th to early 20th century date. <8>

Sources

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