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Monument Types

• MOAT (MEDIEVAL - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FORTIFIED MANOR HOUSE (14TH CENTURY AD - 1388 AD to 1388 AD)
• BASTION (17TH CENTURY AD - 1642 AD to 1646 AD)
• GARDEN FEATURE (17TH CENTURY AD to 19TH CENTURY AD - 1646 AD to 1900 AD)
• FARMHOUSE (17TH CENTURY AD to 18TH CENTURY AD - 1700 AD to 1799 AD)

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument
• Historic Environment Flood Risk Assessment (NHPP)

Full description

The Victoria County History records the site of the castle in 1971 as "At Lower Strensham is a castle said to have been destroyed in civil war, with moats forming a nearly complete square. To the west of it lies Moat Farm, supposed to have been gateway of ancient building. No traces of the masonry of the castle remain but the moats are still in excellent condition". [1]

The monument includes the buried and earthwork remains of the moated site and Civil War defences at Strensham Castle. It is situated at Lower Strensham, approximately 600m west of Strensham church which is itself situated on high ground overlooking the River Avon, 300m to the east .The site consists of two concentric square moats surrounding a central island and was the site of a house built by Sir John Russell who obtained a licence to crenellate in 1388. During the Civil War it was the property of Sir William Russell, Royalist and Governor of Worcester, and the outer moat ditch and intermediate ramparts were built around the existing medieval defences during this period. The site was garrisoned with 16 troops of cavalry until it was slighted after the fall of Worcester in 1646. Sir William Russell received special treatment after the fall of Worcester, being excepted from the surrender treaty by the Parliamentarian Major-General Rainsborough and imprisoned.

Immediately to the west of the moat is a Victorian farm which is believed to occupy the site of the medieval gateway to the moated site and which may have contained an oratory that James Russell was licensed to build in 1288. The survival of these features is uncertain, however, and this area is not therefore included in the scheduling. The medieval house which once occupied the moat island is believed to have been destroyed in the Civil War slighting. The outer moat ditch, which is water-filled and approximately 10m wide by 1m to 2m deep, is fed in its north east corner by a leat from a stream which runs parallel with the eastern arm of the moat. There is an external bank 4m to 6m wide and 1m to 2m high between the stream and the eastern arm of the moat. The stream also fed a pond at the south east corner of the moat. This pond is no longer visible, having been in-filled, and is therefore not included in the scheduling. The outer moat encloses an area of approximately 90m by 78m. Separating the outer from inner moat is a substantial rampart which is approximately 4m higher than both the surrounding land and the inner moat. This rampart is approximately 10m wide at its corners and is built on a bank which is approximately 0 .5m higher than the water level of the outer moat. The rampart rises from this platform and incorporates an artillery emplacement situated on a projecting bastion at each of its four corners. The inner moat is believed to be filled by surface water and is approximately 8m to 10m wide by 2m deep.

Access to the island is via a causeway in t he centre of the western arm which crosses both ditches and is approximately 15m wide. There is some evidence of former bridge abutments over the outer ditch. The island measures approximately 25m by 35m and is approximately 2m higher than the prevailing ground level. It is undulating with a platform approximately 15m by 10m and 0.2m to 0.5m high in its south eastern corner, possibly indicating the site of the medieval house.

The moated site of Strensham Castle is a well-preserved example of a complex medieval manorial moat incorporating rare Civil War defensive earthwork features. The documentary evidence for the site provides an insight into the concerns and life style of its owners. The undisturbed nature of the moat island will preserve evidence of former structures, including both domestic and ancillary buildings and their associated occupation levels. These remains will illustrate the nature of use of the site and the lifestyle of its inhabitants in addition to evidence which will facilitate the dating of construction and subsequent periods of use. The moat ditches can be expected to preserve earlier deposits including evidence for their construction and any alterations during the its active history. In addition, the waterlogged nature of the site will preserve environmental information relating to the climate, ecosystem and landscape in which it was set. English Civil War fieldworks are earthworks which were raised during military operations between 164 2 and 1645 to provide temporary protection for infantry or to act as gun emplacements. The earthworks, which may have been reinforced with revetting and palisades, consisted of banks and ditches and varied in complexity from simple breastworks to complex systems of banks and interconnected trenches. They can be recognised today as surviving earthworks or as crop or soil marks on aerial photographs. The circumstances and cost of their construction may be referred to in contemporary historical documents.

The Civil War defences at Strensham Castle including the rampart and the outer moat ditch provide information about the status and military position of the Civil War owner, Sir William Russell, in addition to being a rare survival of a fortified Civil War garrison. Modification and reuse of the moated site during the Civil War demonstrates its continuing importance as a defensive feature in the landscape.

All modern fencing is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath it is included.[2]

Aerial photographs.[3][4][5][6][7]

Plan of earthworks showing castle and deserted medieval settlement.[8]

This record includes National Record of the Historic Environment Information provided by Historic England on 9th April 2019 licensed under the Open Government Licence: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ [9]

[SO 90464048] Castle [LB] (Site of) [OS 6" 1955] The site of Strensham Castle, crenellated in 1388 and said to have been destroyed in the Civil War. No masonry is visible, but the surrounding earthworks are in excellent condition, consisting of two concentric moats with intermediate ramparts. To the west lies Moat Farm, supposed to have been the gateway. [The Victoria history of the county of Worcester: volume four 1924 edited by William Page and J W Willis-Bund 202, 433 (Montgomerie)] The earthworks are as described in 2. There is also a string of three fish ponds along a stream flowing past the east side of the outer moat. Resurveyed at 1/2500. The suggestion that Moat Farm was the gateway seems unlikely. The present Farmhouse and buildings appear to be 19th c. and later. [Field Investigators Comments: F1 D Smith, 17-Nov-1965] Moat Farmhouse, Grade II. [DOE (HHR) Rural District of Pershore, Here & Worc 03-AUG-72] Strensham castle consists of an inner rectangular island 42m x 33m surrounded by water. This is further elaborated by an encompassing central bank and an external pond and bank. The W half of the site and all of the island has recently been cleared by Mr Gilder of Moat Farm. On the island this has revealed a number of rectangular hollows and short runs of stone wall lines. Also on the intermediate bank, corresponding to the modern access onto the island fragments of a stoney surface and short lengths of walls were visible perhaps indicating the position of the original entrance. The form of the central bank is of considerable interest. It may either represent a remodelling of the medieval Castle or be entirely post-medieval in origin. The most striking features of this bank are the corners, pulling out to form arrowhead bastions, this is most marked to the W. In addition, on all sides except to the W, the bastions are linked by low banks close to the waters edge. Externally to the N and E the outer pond is surrounded by a bank 14m in width. To the E the stream valley has been utilised to create a series of three ponds, now partly encroached upon by ploughing from the E. The form of the central bank is clearly mimicking that of a post- medieval artillery fort. The topographic situation of the castle being entirely overlooked from the E would argue against a military origin for this feature. A more convincing explanation is that it was created as part of an ornamental remodelling of the castle in combination with the three ponds to the E. Associated with the ponds are two drains surviving as earthworks to the W. See also SO 94 SW 25. [Field Investigators Comments: F2 WDC 04-OCT-89] Scheduled. [07-Jul-99] [9]

Listed as a castle by Cathcart King. [Castellarium anglicanum : an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the Islands. Volume II : Norfolk-Yorkshire and the islands, 1983, David J Cathcart King507] In the field (Church Fields) immediately to the north of the moat described above, the earthwork remains of medieval ridge and furrow can be seen on aerial photographs taken in April 2007 by English Heritage. [NMR SO 9040/2 NMR 24600/1 18-APR-2007][9]

The National Record of the Historic Environment entry for this record also referenced the following object/archive: 762101 Strensham DMV/ink survey archival polyester copy made Dec 1993, 875153 Strensham DMV/pencil survey, AF0622105 RCHME: OS Revision Hereford and Worcester, Pershore Sweep The following sites were surveyed by RCHME Keele between September and October 1989, as part of an OS revision: the deserted medieval villages of Netherton, Hill, Woollashill, Wadborough, Strensham, and Throckmorton; Elmsley Castle and Park House; and Stoulton Mill.Contents : 8 plans, 8 pencil field sheets, 3 sketch plans, 106 record forms Condition : INTACT. [9]

The National Record of the Historic Environment entry for this record also referenced the following object/archive: 1507963 Aerial Reconnaissance EH Aerial Reconnaissance (South): 2007-8. [9]

Sources and further reading

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