Monument Type(s):

• CASTLE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)
• DITCH (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)
• TOWN DEFENCES (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)

Summary

This site represents: a town defences of medieval date, a castle of medieval date, a ditch of medieval date.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA3755 - 1903 observations in station yard during addition of ground floor to railway station

Description

A variety of documentary references show that the castle was defended by one or more ditches. In the period 1275-1333 'Adam Pellyiarius de la diches de Salop' is referred to, probably the Adam the Parmenter who 'has dug upon the castle ditch, and planted garden herbs'. Similarly, Richard Smith 'raised a shop in the said town ditch at the time he was making our Lord the King's chamber in the castle, and the King's wall round the town, for the accommodation of the masons, and so it remains' [<1>, p256]. Describing the defences on the north side of the town Blakeway said ' The part next the Castle, as far as the river, was also defended by a very deep ditch, formerly filled by water to the very foot of the mount on which the Castle stands, and crossed by a draw-bridge [<1>, p261]. Blakeway also quoted from a conveyance of 16 Henry VIII (1524) regarding the property now known as the Council House, including the strip of land below it and the castle to the south and east 'in length from the town walls at the upper gate of St Marywaterlode as far as the river and the Castle Ditch [<1>, p266]. Owen (1808) also referred to 'the foss which connected the north part of the castle with the Severn' [<2>]. Henry Pidgeon also noted castle ditches to the north and north-east of the castle 'now [1836] filled up' [<3>]. From these sources it seems that a ditch or ditches ran around the north and west sides of the castle from the river to the Lower Castle Gate (62521), thus linked to the ditch following the Meadow Place wall (62528/62522). The castle ditch has not been seen archaeologically. Much of the north side is likely to have been destroyed by excavation for the railway station. Its line as mapped has been estimated from the probable base of the slope below the castle, and from the line of a lane on the station site shown on the Parliamentary plan for that area, c.1844. The position of the ditch crossing Castle gates outside the Lower Castle Gate may be indicated by chronic subsidence evident in the south end of the Bull Inn, no.14 Castle Gates. <4>

No trace of ditch seen during 1902-1903 groundworks in Station Yard <5>

<01> Blakeway J B, 1905, The Topographical History of Shrewsbury, p256, p261, p266 (Article in serial). SSA10571.

<02> Owen H, 1808, Some Account of the Ancient and Present State of Shrewsbury, p75 (Monograph). SSA5372.

<03> Pigeon H, 1836, Historical Account of the Parish and Church of St Michael within the Castle, Shrewsbury (Monograph). SSA10629.

<04> Baker Nigel J, UAD Analysis, 18/06/1997 (SMR comment). SSA20432.

<05> Southam H R H, 1903, Objects Found During Recent Excavations at the Shrewsbury Railway Station (Article in serial). SSA10434.

Sources

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