Monument Type(s):

• HILLFORT? (Iron Age - 800 BC to 43 AD)
• MOTTE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)
• RINGWORK? (Medieval - 1066 AD? to 1540 AD?)

Summary

Scheduled Monument: A small but well preserved Norman earthwork castle, strategically situated to overlook the main north-south routeway through the Church Stretton fault.

Related records: None recorded

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA215 - 1972 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA216 - 1978 field observation by SCC SMR
• ESA217 - 1981 field observation by SCC SMR
• ESA4936 - 1995 Survey of archaeological sites on National Trust land on the Long Mynd
• ESA4785 - 1992-2000 Summary Condition Survey of SAMs in the Shropshire Hills Environmentally Sensitive Area by English Heritage

Description

The hillfort on Castle Hill .. occupies the summit of an isolated hill 200ft above a stream and is defended by a double line of scarps with some traces of ramparts on the west. A flat space to the east has been supposed to be a bailey..but it seems improbable that this was a work of this kind <1a>
Accepted by Hogg and King as a castle site <1b>
...The supposed bailey on the E is defined by two old hedge banks... OS FI 1972 <1>

The summit of the hill with steep natural slopes on the south side has been artificially scarped on the other three sides to enclose a roughly oval area 20m by 30m. There is a short stretch of ditch and outer bank on the W and an inturning of the upper scarp may indicate an entrance on the NE. The supposed bailey on the E is defined by two old hedgebanks. The work appears to be a small defended settlement of IA date rather than a Md castle but it is impossible to be certain. <1c>

The site comprises two concentric scarps and a small subrectangular interior feature 30m on each side and ending against the natural slopes on the S side. The outer scarps are steep and clearly artificial, with a possible entrance on the SE corner. The whole is overgrown ..It date and character must remain uncertain. I Burrow FI 1978 <2>

Numerous small exposures of bedrock visible through the thin soil. Summit/interior is a roughly flat area surrounded by two concentric scarps ending against very steep natural slopes on S die. Short length of ditch and outer bank to W which appears to merge into field bank/ hedge..The level area to the east is bounded by two field boundaries at right angles to each other. A Tyler FI 1981 <3>

Evaluated for MPP in 1990-1, Medium score as one of 20 Ringworks <5>

Scheduled in 1994 as a motte castle: Scheduling description:->
->The monument includes the remains of a small earthwork castle situated on the summit of Castle Hill, a small outlier to the east of the Long Mynd. The position has been chosen for its strategic strength overlooking the main north-south routeway as it passes through the Church Stretton fault. The earthworks were designed to make maximum use of the natural defensive strength of the hill. The summit of the hill has been cut back around the west, north and east sides to form a steep scarp averaging 2.4m high with an outer berm or terrace 3m wide. Both ends of the scarp terminate on the precipitous hillslope which forms the south side of the enclosure. This artificial steepening of the hill has created a roughly subrectangular motte with a level platform, measuring 20m north to south by 22m east to west. The defences are strengthened around the west side by an outer rampart lm high on its inner, uphill, side, merging with the natural slope to fall some 6m to a lower terrace 4m wide. This rampart runs for some 18m before fading out at both ends on the steepening natural hillslope. The lower terrace can be traced around the end of the hill for some 22m before fading in a similar fashion. A slight inturning in the scarp at its south east corner, along with a lowering of the inner scarp at this position, is believed to represent the position of an original entrance. To the immediate east of the earthworks is a flat area bounded around its east and north sides by a low bank lm wide and 0.5m high. The bank, although superimposed on the adjoining earthworks, is included within the area of the scheduling <6>

National Trust Archaeology Survey. Visited 06/09/1995. Management recommendations made; otherwise adds little to [<6>] <7>

Visited during a condition survey by the English Heritage Field Monument Warden, in 1998. Condition recorded as fair. Ongoing vegetation control was recommended. <8>

The earthwork enclosure described above was seen on vertical aerial photographs of the area and was mapped during the Marches Uplands NMP. <9><9a>

Sources

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