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HER Number (PRN):05717
Name:Excavated section of town wall and ditch at corner of Castle Street and Chapel Street, Oswestry
Type of Record:Monument
Protected Status:Conservation Area: Oswestry

Monument Type(s):

Summary

Excavation in December 1983/January 1984 revealed a stretch of town wall, 8m long and 2m wide, deliberately levelled.

Parish:Oswestry, Oswestry, Shropshire
Map Sheet:SJ22NE
Grid Reference:SJ 2892 2982

Related records

00493Part of: Oswestry town defences (Monument)

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

  • ESA5935 - 1983-1984 excavations in Castle Street car park, Oswestry by BCAG

Description

Excavation Dec 1983/Jan 1984 revealed stretch of town wall, 8m long and 2m wide, deliberately levelled. C13 pottery found in construction trench. Town wall turned S from Castle Street, towards Castle Street/Chapel Street car park. Sandstone ashlar blocks of regular size, bonded with good quality mortar. Part of town ditch located, more than 3m deep. To west of wall and within circuit were five postholes, one with timber uprights, contain C11 pottery. Also foundations of late medieval, post medieval and C19 houses <1>

CMHTS Record Sheet <2>
CMHTS Report <3>

No plan, so exact location and line of wall not known. However, a map in the report for a 1988 site [ESA343] has a small scale sketched alignment [<4>]. That this is approximately correct was confirmed by the Council's Historic Environment Officer from personal knowledge of the site [<5>], and it is on this map that the SMR mapping of the alignment is based. <6>

Notes on the 1983-84 excavations imply there was a 1.5m berm. The ditch extended into Chapel Street, and it was thought that it might extend as far as the Methodist Chapel on the far side of the street. It appeared to have been deliberately infilled and capped with clay. <7>

Excavation Dec 83/Jan 84 revealed a stretch of town wall at SJ2892 2983. 8m in length and 2m wide, it had been deliberately levelled. C13 pottery found in construction trench. It shows that the Town Wall turned S from Castle St and towards the Castle St/Chapel St car park. The wall was of sandstone ashlar blocks of regular size and bonded in good quality mortar. Part of the town ditch was also located. To the W of the wall and within its circuit were found five post holes, one housing timber uprights, and from one of them C11 pottery was recovered. Report includes a single plan, which labels the line of the town wall and records the town ditch as a 'moat'. <8>

Sources

[01]SSA11603 - Article in serial: Reynolds P N. 1984. Oswestry Town Wall. Shropshire News Sht. No 20. p11-12.
[02]SSA19971 - Record form: Dalwood Hal. 1993/ 1996. CMHTS SMR Records Shropshire: Oswestry. Central Marches Historic Towns Survey record form. Vol 8. Oswestry 5717.
[03]SSA12079 - Historic landscape survey report: Dalwood Hal et al. 1996. Archaeological Assessment of Oswestry, Shropshire (CMHTS). Hereford & Worcester CAS Rep. Rep 333.
[04]SSA1536 - Excavation report: Worthington Margaret. 1989. Oswestry Castle and Town Wall: report on the excavations in 1988. Univ Manchester Extra Mural Department Rep.
[05]SSA22223 - VERBAL COMMUNICATION: Watson Michael D. 2005. Comment in conversation with SMR Officer. 12/04/2005.
[06]SSA20725 - HER comment: Gathercole E Clare. 1999/ 2002. Comments by SMR compiler in SMR database. 13/04/2005.
[07]SSA22225 - Deskbased survey report: Frost Pat. 2005. Land off Chapel Street, Oswestry, Shropshire: archaeological evaluation, March 2005. Castlering Archaeol Rep. 199.
[08]SSA2116 - Excavation report: Reynolds P N. 1987. Oswestry Town Wall: Excavation Report 1983-84. Manchester Archaeological Bulletin. Vol 1.
Date Last Edited:Aug 11 2020 3:53PM

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