Monument Type(s):

• BAILEY (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)
• CASTLE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD) + Sci.Date
• DITCH (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)

Summary

Scheduled Monument and Grade I Listed Building: The core of the medieval castle, ringed by substantial 12th century curtain walls and containing the Norman motte and a (much rebuilt) 13th century hall.

Related records

Associated Finds

• FSA2703 - SHERD (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1901 AD)

Associated Events

• ESA3743 - 1996 WB on test holes for sewer repair, Shrewsbury Castle by SCCAS
• ESA5955 - 2005 WB and Excavation at Shrewsbury Castle by Nigel Baker
• ESA6386 - 2000 resistivity and GPR survey of Shrewsbury Castle, Shrewsbury by Stratascan
• ESA7488 - 1999 Geophysical survey in inner bailey at Shrewsbury Castle by Roger White & Shrewsbury YAC
• ESA7568 - 2015 WB during the installation of a monument at Shrewsbury Castle by SCAS
• ESA9080 - 2019 Geophysical survey at Shrewsbury Castle, Shropshire by TigerGeo
• ESA9184 - 2019 excavation in the inner bailey of Shrewsbury Castle by Nigel Baker
• ESA9552 - 2020 Excavation on western rampart of Shrewsbury Castle by Nigel Baker

Description

The castle inner bailey. A level area of c.1 acre, defined by curtain walls (62508) standing on earthwork ramparts which are well preserved on the west and north sides, though presumably levelled where the hall was to be built in the 13th century; (ramparts not present on south side?). The motte (62504) stands on the east side and may once have been separated from it by a ditch, though there is now no trace of one. The centre of the inner bailey formerly contained a well 74 feet deep [<1>] <2>

In 2000 geophysical survey was carried out at Shrewsbury Castle using a resistivity and ground probing radar. In the southern extent of the bailey, the radar identified a complex subsurface with no obvious discrete features that could be interpreted as a coherent structure. This may represent occupation deposits where no masonry structure was built, only timber buildings. To the north evidence of structural remains of a substantial building were found during the resistivity survey, believed to coincide with the parch marks seen during the summer months. In the same area the radar again showed evidence of much subsurface complexity but little that could be correlated with the suspected foundations. ->

-> The banks on the east and west side of the bailey were identified as made up ground, up to 1.9m deep with the original ground surface beneath. Unknown features were identified within the fill particularly towards the northern end of the west bank. There is some tenuous evidence for a motte ditch, though no similar feature is seen elsewhere as would be expected. A possible large pit, a well or pit, a wall or a path and a near surface dump of conductive material such as ash or clinker were also identified within the area of the bailey. <3>

In January 2005, a watching brief was carried out on the excavation of new drains connecting to the down pipes on the south east side of the Hall at Shrewsbury Castle. There were no period-indicative inclusions or finds although the material did contain a quantity of animal bone and a possible boar’s tusk. <4>

A resistivity survey was carried out in part in part of the inner bailey of Shrewsbury Castle in March 1999 by Roger White of Birmingham University, and further work was anticipated in the near future [which never appears to have come to fruition <6>]. The results of this survey were still being processed in September 1999, but preliminary findings indicated the possible footings of a building in front of the Great Hall and a ditch further to the east. The building does not relate to any of those known from the cartographic sources. The ditch appears to run north west-south east across the bailey and may predate the present castle. <5>

No formal report has been submitted to the HER for the work described in <5> and it is unlikely one was ever produced. <5> includes a location plan and a poorly copied greyscale (with no scales). <6>

A copy of the greyscale from the resitivity survey described in <5> with annotations was submitted by Mike Stokes to Jo Barnes (and a copy obtained from SABC files). This postulates a large rectilinear structure aligned on the Great Hall with rubble spreads around it. A linear area of low resistance running along the north edge of the survey area is suggested as the motte ditch with an interruption centrally. [These interpretations remain difficult to substantiate given the poor quality with which the greyscale is reproduced <6>]. <7>

A watching brief was maintained during the excavation of a test-pit and subsequent excavation for the installation of a monument, a stone eagle, on the east side of Shrewsbury Castle. Only made ground was encountered and no dating evidence was recovered, aside from a single sherd of flower pot. <8>

A detailed analysis of the archaeological and historical development of the inner bailey of the castle prepared in 2001, by Nigel Baker, presumably in connection with the preparation of a conservation plan for the castle. This highlights the lack of previous research inside the inner bailey and discussed the implications of the results of the geophysical survey (see <3>). <9><9a>

Shrewsbury Castle was founded shortly after the Norman conquest. After the pacification of the Welsh in the late-thirteenth century it fell into decline. It was refortified in the Civil War, and then became a private dwelling in the eighteenth century, being largely remodelled by Thomas Telford. Surprisingly little is known about the history of the existing fabric, and dendrochronological investigation of the Hall range was requested in order to inform on-going conservation plans. Construction of the Hall was thought to have begun in AD 1164, although it is commonly accepted that the Castle was rebuilt c AD 1280 by Edward I as part of his campaign to fortify the Welsh Border (M. Moran pers comm). It was subsequently enlarged in AD 1596. <10>

Geophysical survey (comprising electrical resistance survey and GPR survey) was carried out in 2019 within the castle's inner bailey, as part of a programme of work funded by the Castle Studies Trust. ->

-> This provided good evidence for buildings and everything known from old maps can be accounted for across the two data sets. This includes the exact location of one reputed to be the castle chapel in the western part of the bailey and the location of a second, depicted by Rocque parallel to the western drive, has also been located. The parch marks within the centre of the bailey are now known (post excavation by Dr. Nigel Baker) to relate primarily to an area of natural gravel just under the turf into which have been cut features like flower beds. ->

-> In both geophysical data sets these have a more structural appearance and there remains convincing evidence for structures east of the excavated area. The eastern rampart appears to be of homogeneous build whereas the western one can be shown to have been heavily landscaped after 1882, including the removal of glasshouses likely built upon the remains of the chapel. The motte does appear to have an encircling ditch, since confirmed by excavation, which fits uneasily with the present location of the well, however, this may not be in its original form and it is possible that a second exists beneath the tarmac apron within what in medieval times was presumably an enclosed court. This ditch may have been within a wider band of ground quarried for materials for the motte. <11>

Subsequent to <11>, a trench was excavated in July 2019 in the inner bailey, directed by Dr Nigel Baker and funded by the Castle Studies Trust. The principal aim of the excavation trench was to investigate the long-standing belief, based on the 2000 Stratascan geophysical survey [<3>], the observation of summertime parching of the grass and the 2019 Tiger Geo geophysical survey [<11>], that building remains lay close to the surface of the inner bailey lawn. ->

-> The 2019 Castle Studies Trust project has advanced knowledge of Shrewsbury Castle in four particular respects: establishing the original scale of the motte defences; identifying, by geophysical survey, a number of previously-unknown features within the inner bailey; identifying the presence of pre-Conquest activity on the site; and identifying a major, destructive, landscaping episode that took place in the early modern period. ->

-> Report includes detailed discussion of the results of the excavations, together with the implications of the results of the geophysical survey [<11>] and specialist reports, including a pottery report. <12>

A further season of excavation was carried out in the inner bailey in September 2020, examining the western rampart of the Castle. The excavation confirmed the site of Victorian glasshouses, removed in the early 20th century. Beneath was a dump of discarded roof tile, tentatively identified as the result of the demolition of a nearby building range, probably by Thomas Telford in 1786-1790; at least half the height of the rampart in this location was identifiably of post-medieval date. Medieval strata containing 12th to 15th-century pottery continued to the base of the excavation 2.3m below the surface of the rampart and probably derive from one or more landfill events. There was no sign of natural gravel, even below the level at which it was found in the first season trench in the bailey interior in 2019 (see <12>), suggesting that infilling over a natural gradient down to the west had taken place, possibly following an enlargement of the west side of the bailey in the first four decades of the 13th century with further levelling-up in later centuries. <13>

Sources

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