Monument Type(s):

• TOWN WALL (13th century to 15th century - 1200 AD to 1499 AD)

Summary

This site represents: a town wall of medieval date.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA2070 - 1993 Evaluation of St Julian's Friars area by OxAU
• ESA5849 - 2003-2004 excavations off St Julian's Friars by Marches Archaeology
• ESA7590 - 2015 Conservation management survey of the town walls, Shrewsbury, by SCAS

Description

Line of town wall east of St Julian's Friars, passing through and defined where it was excavated as PRN 62395, terminating at the medieval Stone Bridge, according to the Burghley Map and Speed's map of 1610. Its course is well-established between St Julian's Friars (gate = PRN 62470) and the OAU evaluation trench, but further east its course is less than certain. OAU trench 8 found no sign of it, suggesting it had turned northwards further to the west, and this is supported by a site which showed deep/late fills suggestive of the ditch. The wall is likely to head for Wyle Cop and the Stone Bridge somewhere in the area of 46 Wyle Cop, though there is no sign of it in the cellarage of that property or its neighbours. Its relationship to the probable medieval building PRN 01497 is also unclear. <1>

A section of the northward return was revealed in an excavation during the 2003-4 St Julian's Friars development [see PRN 08545]. To the south of this section, the angle where the east-west wall meets the northward return must be quite acute. To the north of it, the documentary sources disagree about its course. Burghley's map [<3>] shows the wall curving north-eastwards to meet the bridge, whereas Speed [<4>] shows it running straight. Nothing much can be deduced from this. <2>

The 2003-4 find [<2>] indicates that the conclusions of [<1>] regarding the northward return of the wall were wrong. However, there may be a question mark about the exact location of the 2003-4 trench [see PRN 01497, 08549]. <5>

A programme of archaeological recording was undertaken in 2002 in and around 45/46 Wyle Cop. No evidence was located for the town wall, which is assumed to leave St Julian's Frirars and head towards the site of the Stone Bridge and the Wyle Cop somewhere in this vicinity. The work indicated a great depth of man made deposits. The site was excavated to a general max depth of 49.70m OD and natural subsoil was not encountered. <6>

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 section is identified as 12, running below ground from the end of the standing wall behind Beeches Lane (PRN 62471) eastwards towards the rear of Marine Terrace and then turns north to join the abutment of the English Bridge. Although there are no above ground remains of the town defences in this section, their presence has been confirmed by a number of archaeological investigations. <7>

<01> Baker Nigel J, UAD Analysis, 07/04/1997 (SMR comment). SSA20432.

<02> Tavener Nick, 2004, Land formerly belonging to Vincent Greenhous, St Julian's Friars, Shrewsbury: assessment report on archaeological fieldwork with an updated project proposal (Excavation report). SSA22074.

<03> Burghley (for Burghley, by ?Symonds J), 1575, The Burghley Map of Shrewsbury (Map). SSA5543.

<04> Speed J, 1610, Speed's Plan of Shrewsbury (Map). SSA5574.

<05> Gathercole E Clare, 1999/ 2002, Comments by SMR compiler in SMR database, 09/11/2004 (SMR comment). SSA20725.

<06> Frost Pat, 2002, 45/46 Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury: Archaeological Assessment, 9.11 (Archaeological fieldwork report). SSA20779.

<07> Hannaford Hugh R, 2015, Shrewsbury Town Walls: a conservation management plan (2 volumes), Gazetter 12 (Management report). SSA28223.

Sources

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