Monument Type(s):

• EARTHWORK? (Unknown date)
• (Former Type) RAMPART? (Medieval - 1066 AD? to 1540 AD?)
• (Alternate Type) TERRACED GARDEN? (Post Medieval - 1540 AD? to 1901 AD?)

Summary

The site of earthworks suggested by a number of cartographic sources, which have been interpreted as the outer southern defences of Whittington Castle (PRN 01003). Potentially related to earthworks on the village green (PRN 28854).

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA6992 - 2013 DBA and walkover survey Penrhos Arms, Whittington, by Castlering Archaeology
• ESA7134 - 2014 Trial trenching at Penrhos Arms, Whittington by Castlering Archaeology
• ESA7292 - 2014 WB at Penrhos Court, Whittington by Castlering Archaeology
• ESA7168 - 2014 DBA and site visit at former engineering works, Station Road, Whittington, Shropshire by Castlering Archaeology
• ESA8168 - 2016 - 2017 WB at former engineering works, Station Road, Whittington by Castlering Archaeology

Description

A sketch plan of Whittington Castle in the Victoria County History suggests the presence of a circuitous fourth bank and ditch around the castle, in addition to those previously (and subsequently) mapped to the north by the Ordnance Survey. It appears to curve widely in a south-easterly direction before being cut by Castle Street. It is not continuous and no continuation north is identified. <1>

This feature is not shown on other mapping. The only further representation, the provisional 1949 6" OS map, appears to depict a short length of curvilinear earthwork passing to the rear of a number of properties to the north of Station Road. <2>

This feature was identified in an heritage impact assessment undertaken on the site of Penrhos Arms, in association with proposed redevelopment at the site. The projected line of this feature was recorded as crossing the development site. The curving earthwork identified on the 1949 provisional OS map appears to have been a significant earth bank rising to a height of 1.24m above the street level at this time. This feature was presumably levelled in the 1960s when the existing garden was established, as an earthwork mound is no longer recorded in 1969. Subsequent to the impact assessment, discussion with English Heritage resulted in the plotting of the likely position of the earthwork across the site by the contractor. As a result, 3 of the proposed development plots were realigned to fall outside the former earthwork. Archaeological evaluation was recommended to test the survival of any subsurface features associated with this postulated earthwork. <3>

Further to the heritage impact assessment referred to in <3>, a programme of archaeological evaluation was undertaken, involving the excavation of 3 trenches across the postulated line of this feature. No evidence was recorded of an additional circuitous bank or ditch as documentary evidence had suggested. A layer of random stones was recorded at the extreme north end of two trenches, perhaps representing the remains of the covering of the existing outer bank of the earthworks, where they slope into the development site. Given the negative results of the evaluation, the author visited the village green, to assess earthworks previously recorded in this area (PRN 28854). They suggest an interrelationship between the two but remark that this feature should be considered as a separate entity from the castle defences. <4>

The development proposals were adjusted to exclude this area from the development. A watching brief carried out across the rest of the site, between October and August 2014, recorded no medieval features. A single sherd of 13th/14th century pottery, recovered from the topsoil, was the only medieval find. <5>

A desk-based assessment was undertaken in 2014 of a site to the immediate East of the Penrhos Arms site [<3>], on the site of the former engineering works on Station Road. Again, this confirmed that the postulated earthwork here should be regarded as a separate entity from the castle defences; no possible traces of an earthwork on the site were identified during a site visit. <6>

Subsequent to <6>, a watching brief was undertaken in 2016-2017 on the former engineering works on Station Road. No features associated with these possible earthworks were recorded. <7>

Sources

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