Monument Type(s):

• BASTION (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)
• MOTTE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)
• KEEP (13th century to 15th century - 1200 AD to 1499 AD)
• TERRACED GARDEN (Late 19th century - 1880 AD to 1899 AD)

Summary

Scheduled Monument and Listed Building: Medieval motte and bailey castle possibly extant in 1086 surviving as an earthwork mound although the bailey is completely destroyed. Stone castle built in 1148 by Madoc ap Meredyth and demolished between 1647 and 1673. Masses of masonry still survive.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA339 - 1967 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA340 - 1982 field observation by English Heritage
• ESA341 - 1983 field observation by English Heritage
• ESA342 - 1986 excavation in the Horse Market, Oswestry by Manchester University, Centre for Continuing Education
• ESA343 - 1988 survey and excavations on top and at base of motte at Oswestry Castle by Manchester University, Centre for Continuing Education
• ESA5936 - 1888 observations during landscaping works
• ESA5938 - 1890s observations of damp waterlogged ground on the Municipal Buildings site
• ESA7086 - 2007-2008 WB at Oswestry Castle Mound, Oswestry by Ironbridge Archaeology
• ESA7366 - 2014 Trial trench at Oswestry Castle by Oswestry and Borders History and Archaeology Group / SAP Archaeology
• ESA7372 - 2000 WB at Oswestry Castle, Oswestry, Shropshire by SCCAS
• ESA7674 - 2015 Trench on Oswestry Castle mound by SAP Archaeology
• ESA8226 - 2016 Trial trenching on Oswestry Castle Mound by SAP Archaeology and Oswestry Borders History and Archaeology Group
• ESA8436 - 2017 Excavation on top of Oswestry Castle by SAP Archaeology/Oswestry and Border History and Archaeology Group
• ESA9348 - 2018 GPR survey at Oswestry Castle by Bartlett Clark Consultancy/Archaeological Survey West
• ESA9421 - 2016-2017 Geophysical survey at Oswestry Castle for Oswestry Castle Research Project (OCRP) by Archaeological Survey West

Description

Castle, remains of. C13 masonry on late C11 motte, landscaped late C19. Uncoursed limestone and conglomerate rubble. Only fragments of medieval structure survive: 2 substantial pieces of collapsed masonry (probably from former shell keep) on top of levelled motte and the possible remains of a reconstructed bastion on east side; revetment wall around the base of the motte probably late C19 but re-using medieval masonry, incorporates 2 gate piers removed from former Beatrice Gate; regularly coursed sandstone with round-headed niches, moulded capping with fluted bands, right-hand interrupted by inscription TOLL THOROUGH. The motte was raised soon after the Conquest by Alan Fitz Flaald and the castle was the scene of a parliament held by Richard II in 1398: it was repaired by the Royalists in 1643 but was slighted by the Parliamentarian forces in the following year. Beatrice Gate, a gate in the former town walls, was removed c.1782. Scheduled Ancient Monument, County No. 203 <3>

Unidentifiable remains of the probable twelfth century keep of shell type are located on top of the mutilated castle mound. Bailey Street indicates the probable area of the bailey to the south <4>

Castle was possibly erected by Madog ap Merdydd, Prince of Powys sometime before 1159, but possibly by William Fitz Alan of Clun, who married the former's widow. An inquisition of 1398 mentions the following: Wardrobe, Great Chamber, Middle Chamber, High Chamber, Constables Hall, Buttery, Chapel, Kitchen, Larder. Chapel was dedicated to St Nicholas. Camden says castle was "ditched by south-west" <5>

Leland's account of the castle says it was ditched by south-west and that the town wall [SA 00493] ran up to this ditch from Beatrice Gate [SA 00495] to the NE and Willow Gate [SA 00497] to the SW. This source says the mound is natural but cites [<7>], which regards mound as artifical. In 1165 there was a garrison of 200 soldiers in the castle. One tower, Madoc's tower, is mentioned by Camden as built temp Richard II. Works on the Municipal Buildings site in the 1890s located soft damp ground taken to be evidence of a ditch <6>

The surviving work is about 60ft by 100ft on its summit, about 30ft high and about 200ft in diameter at the base. Masonry of large rolled boulders set on bed of mortar. Keep was probably a polygonal shell keep and probably dates to the time of William Fitzalan, c1155 <7>

Excavation in 1988 of small area on motte ("site 6"), recorded 1 metre of demolition rubble, dated to C17th and later. Deposits recorded in detail, small quantity of post-medieval pottery recorded. Motte examined and surviving stonework described. Identified the castle as probably a square or rectangular keep rather than a shell keep. Resistivity survey on top of the motte revealed several anomalies but no clear pattern: however, attempts to insert the probes showed that solid material was immediately below the surface. <9>

Evaluated for MPP in 1990-1: High score as one of 43 Motte castles; one of less than 10 Shellkeeps <26>

Castle Bank said to be natural glacial mound, scarped to form motte. Documentary evidence recounted, which shows there was a garrison of 200 in late C12th, and a well in the castle. A parliament was held at the castle in 1398. In 1643 the castle was held by the Royalist Garrison and surrendered when the town was attacked. In c1650 the castle was demolished and became an open space. In 1852 the castle mound was turned into a fenced ornamental park and was owned by the corporation from 1890. The castle contained the Chapel of St Nicholas, documented in 1389 <27>

The castle was in a poor state of repair in 1602, and parts of it had been robbed of building material <28>

The castle is recorded in the Domesday Book as being built by Rainald (de Bailleul, sheriff of Shropshire). At the time of compilation of the Domesday survey it was evidently so new that it was referred to simply as Luvre (L'Oeuvre) or The Work. Work had started some time after 1074, on the orders of Roger de Montgomery, first earl of Shrewsbury, whose under-tenant Rainald was. For ease of construction, Rainald utilised the smallest of the several mounds of glacial debri that screen Owestry to the north, possibly that surmounted by the prominent tree that at one time grew on, or marked the boundary of, the estate of the Saxon farmer, Oswald, after whom the town eventually was to be named. During landscaping of "castle bank" in 1888 a stone structure was uncovered, consisting of "a perfect angle", thought to be one of the rooms of the castle <29>

Discussion of illustrations of the castle by I Burrow written on SMR card. <30>

CMHTS Record Sheet <31>

CMHTS Report <32>

Scheduling affirmed in 2000. Relevant parts of Scheduling description: ->

-> The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a motte, which was originally part of a motte and bailey castle [see PRN 05782], the ruins of a stone keep built upon its summit and an adjoining portion of the town wall. ->

-> The castle is referred to as 'castelle Lurve' [sic!] in the Domesday Survey and was constructed by Reginald, Sheriff of Shropshire. Throughout the medieval period the estate of Maesbury (Oswestry) was held by the FitzAlan family, who developed their landholding into the marcher lordship of Oswestry by the late 12th century. The castle was never used as a principle residence of the FitzAlans, but served as a depot for major campaigns against the Welsh, as well as forming the base for a defensive force of light cavalry. The castle was strengthened at the end of the 13th century, but its military significance declined shortly afterwards, although it was used to muster Welsh troops for the war in France in the 14th and 15th centuries. The castle was the scene of a parliament held by Richard II in 1398. It was garrisoned by Royalist troops during the Civil War, but was slighted by Cromwellian forces in 1644, and had been largely demolished by about 1650. ->

->A natural isolated oval mound, probably of glacial origin, has been adopted and utilised to form the motte. It is about 12m high and measures approximately 52m by 72m at its base. Upon the summit and around the top are the in situ and collapsed remnants of the stone keep possibly dating to the 13th century, replacing earlier structures probably built of timber. The remains of the keep are a Listed Building Grade II. The internal layout of the keep is not known, but an inventory compiled in 1398 notes a great chamber, a middle chamber and a high chamber, the Constables Hall, a wardrobe, a chapel dedicated to St Nicholas, a kitchen, larder and buttery. From the evidence of the standing fabric it is considered that the keep was a square or rectangular structure. ->

-> To the south east of the keep are the remains of a probable bastion, largely rebuilt in the late 19th century. It is a Listed Building Grade II and is included in the scheduling. The base of the mound is defined by substantial revetment walls of probable late 19th century date, incorporating two gate piers removed from one of the former town gates known as the Beatrice Gate. These walls and the gate piers are also Listed Grade II and included in the scheduling. ->

- >The castle bailey, which lies to the south of the motte … is … not included in the scheduling. ->

-> An archaeological excavation on top of the motte undertaken in 1988 revealed a metre thick layer of demolition rubble dating to the 17th century, whilst in a trench dug at the base of the mound a small section of a substantial wall, thought to be part of the 13th century town defences, was found … The wall would appear to overlie the remains of the motte ditch and it thus post-dates the construction of the motte … ->

-> In the late 19th century the castle mound was extensively landscaped in order to create a public pleasure ground. The earliest large scale Ordnance Survey map published in 1874 shows a series of terraces defining a spiralling path around the mound. This scheme formed the basis of the subsequent landscaping which included the construction of a stone wall around the top of mound. All these structural features are included in the scheduling. ->

-> A number of features are excluded from the scheduling, these are; the surfaces of all modern paths, all modern fences and railings, the floodlights and the Victorian fountain to the south of the mound; the ground beneath all these features is, however, included. <33>

An archaeological watching brief was carried out in 2007-2008 during demolition of a redundant toilet block and unstable section of stone retaining wall to the south of the castle mound. This involved limited excavation of the mound. The areas excavated in close proximity to the toilet block appeared to contain considerable depths of rubble, possibly Victorian infill between the motte and the former retaining wall (although no dating evidence was found associated with these deposits). The most undisturbed deposits encountered were those seen at the base of the mound - clayey gravels, which were thought to be a form of glacial till. It appears that this glacial till forms the lower portion of the castle mound which would further confirm the suggestion that the motte is sited on a natural glacial mound. <34>

A single evaluation trench was excavated by hand in the lawned area just south of Oswestry castle mound, behind the Town Hall to a depth of 1m. This trench was positioned across a linear earthwork running across this area, postulated as a wing wall. The wing wall was not located, with the trench recording a significant depth of Victorian dumping in this area. <35>

In spring 2000 the Archaeology Service, Shropshire County Council carried out a watching brief on a programme of repair works to Oswestry Castle, Oswestry. No significant archaeological features or deposits were disturbed during the repair works. <36>

A single trench, measuring 4m x 10m, was excavated as part of a community archaeology project on top of Oswestry Castle mound in September 2015 [ESA 7674]. The trench investigated the relationship between standing wall remains on top of the mound - it established that there was no relationship between them. The westernmost section of wall was recorded as of a much eroded medieval core, from which the facing stones have been robbed. The easternmost section of wall is a fairly modern reconstruction. A ten metre stretch of keep walling was exposed to a depth of over one metre on its internal (south facing) side. This section of walling was of rubble core construction with possible facing of red sandstone blocks. On the external face of this wall it appears that the wall had a splayed base or glacis. A tower was also postulated, although it is likely that this suggestion will be the subject of future work. <37><38>

In September 2016, two trenches were excavated by hand both measuring 4m x 5m on the top of the castle mound (motte) and were located to answer questions raised from the previous year’s excavation (see <37><38>) [ESA 8226] . Both trenches revealed enough of the keep's structure and combining this work with last year’s excavation enabled a prediction to be made of the basic plan of the medieval keep. ->

-> The keep, set on a splayed base is externally approximately 12 metres square from the top of the splayed base. The thickness of the walls varying from 4.25m to m on the areas excavated. This splayed base is set at an angle of approximately 50 degrees and is made of well-dressed chamfered red sand stone blocks of at least 8 courses deep. The external facing stones of the main external walls would have been similarly dressed with red sandstone. The interior walls were built of more roughly dressed sandstone bonded with lime mortar. Further evidence also suggests that the interior may well have had a lime mortar render which is not unusual for this type of building. The basement floor is at least 2.77metre below the modern surface but was not reached by excavation due to being unsafe. It is predicted that each external corners of the keep could have had a clamping buttress protruding out from them also faced with red sandstone. The keep, contrasted with other known examples, would have probably stood three storeys high including the basement floor. ->

-> The provisional date for the keep is 12th century and would be typical of a small Norman keep but much more documentary research needs to be undertaken to confirm and narrow down this view. Clearly, further archaeological work needs to be undertaken to consolidate this work and to give a finer grain view of the structure. But, the potential for recovering the full plan of the keep is very high. <39>

A further trench was excavated in May 2017 [ESA 8436]. This revealed a consdierable amount of in situ masonry of the castle keep - with 9 courses of ashlar sandstone blocks surviving in places. This continued work from 2016 on the S and central area of the castle mound (see <39>), and this report presents combined analysis of the 2016 and 2017 seasons. ->

-> All observation and data collected to date are characteristic of a square Anglo-Norman keep, not a shell keep. This keep sits on a subtantial and well-made ashlar spalyed base of red sandstone. In addition, it is considered more than likely that it had clasping butresses at each corner. The footprint of the keep takes up a large area on top of the mound, and in comparison with other keeps of a similar size probably had three floor; a basement, first and second floors. A mid 12th to early 13th century date is suggested on stylistic grounds. <40>

A ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey was undertaken at Oswestry Castle, in 2018 as part of ongoing investigations of the castle site and its surroundings, by the Oswestry Castle Community Research Group (OCCRP). The survey area included as much as possible of the former Horse Market, present car park adjacent to the castle, and areas of accessible ground on and beneath the castle mound. The survey responded well to the surviving foundations of the castle keep, and identified linear features which could potentially represent wall footings or structural reamins in the areas surveyed at the foot of the castle mound. <41>

A series of geophysical and investigations were undertaken as part of the Oswestry Castle Research Project in 2016-2017. The main objectives of the geophysical investigations of the castle were to
collect as much information as possible, prior to excavations on the castle mound as well as enabling a wider source of interpretation for thereconstruction of the castle and medieval landscape. The results were interpreted in the context of ongoing excavation results. <42>

Photographed during aerial survey in 2021. <43>

Sources

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