CLUN CASTLE

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DESCRIPTION

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Medieval motte and three baileys surviving as an earthwork and stone keep. It was originally built of wood between 1090 and 1110, but was burnt down by the Welsh in 1196 and had been rebuilt by 1233. It was rebuilt in the second half of the 13th century in stone and this survives as a ruined four-storeyed building and curtain walls. The main surviving masonry portion of the castle is the Great Tower built into the side of the motte. After 1300 the castle was no longer used as a residance but had become a hunting lodge and administrative centre. In the early 16th century a courthouse was added, further alterations were carried out in 1780 and 1885.

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(SO 2984 8093) Castle (NR) (Remains of) (NAT) (1)

Clun Castle has a high mound at the point of a sharp bend of the River Clun and inner and outer baileys stretching from the mound away from the river. A deep moat encircles the mound and the baileys.

The site was probably fortified by Robert de Say, who owned the land at the time of Domesday. A small rising on the mound and fragments of a curtain wall may belong to this period; the wall towers were added later.

The keep is of four storeys, two of them below the level of the top of the mound, and although still standing to nearly its full height, is in a very ruinous condition. (2) Plans (3). Mentioned in Pipe Rolls for 1160-4 and 1215. (2-3)

Clun Castle is administered by the Parish Council as a Recreation Ground.
Published Survey 1:2500 revised. (4)

Remains of Clun Castle (Formerly listed as remains of Clun Castle and Gatehouse). Castle, remains of. 1090-1110 with C13 additions by the Fitzallans. Coursed limestone rubble with roughly squared facing and sandstone ashlar dressings. Extensive earthworks with motte to West and 3 baileys to East; the ruins stand on the motte with the keep to the North, pair of C13 semi-circular curtain wall towers to West and fragment of wall to South. Keep: walls remaining to North, West and East, basement and 3 storeys; wide clasping buttresses and battered basement to North; scattered round-arched openings on each floor.
Towers: fragments of semi-circular towers, that to the South with 2 dressed stone arches in the North side. Small fragment of curtain wall to South. The castle was built in conjunction with the planned town laid out to the East; it stands high up in a loop of the River Clun near its confluence with the River Unk (incorrectly called the Urk in the Ancient Monument description) and the strategic significance of the site is easily appreciated in vistas from the surrounding hills and especially from the Clun valley to the
West. A.M. County No. 3. (5)

SO 298 809. Clun Castle. Scheduled. (6)

Clun Castle is clearly visible on aerial photographs of the area.
It was mapped at 1:10,000 scale during the Marches Uplands Mapping Project. (7-8)

Additional reference. (9)

Listed by Cathcart King. (10)

History of the castle 1066-1282. After 1303 the castle was largely used as a prison rather than a residence, and by circa 1540 it was described as ruinous. It was probably not garrisoned during the Civil War. (11)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1901-1949

( 2) by Sidney Toy 1953 The castles of Great Britain

Page(s)89-90

( 3) D F Renn 1968 Norman Castles in Britain

Page(s)148-50

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F1 DJC 13-AUG-73

( 5) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

District of South Shropshire, JUN-1985 417 Page(s)31

( 6) English Heritage 1995 County list of Scheduled Monuments : March 1994

Shropshire Page(s)19

( 7) Oblique aerial photograph reference number

CUCAP AWI 44-5 21-DEC-1968

( 8) Vertical aerial photograph reference number

RAF 541/40 4247-8, 22-MAY-1948

( 9) Scheduled Monument Notification

09-OCT-1995

(10) David J Cathcart King 1983 Castellarium anglicanum : an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the Islands. Volume II : Norfolk-Yorkshire and the islands

2 Page(s)423

(11) by Paul Martin Remfry 1994 Clun Castle 1066 to 1282

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