MORE CASTLE

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Medieval motte and bailey castle (motte, bailey, settlement, hollow way, crofts, fish ponds, building and ridge and furrow) seen as earthworks. The motte 2.5 metres high with a flat top 20 metres in diameter is surrounded by a wide ditch with an outer bank, 0.4 metres high, on the west and north. To the east there is an inner bailey, much mutilated and the possible site of a building and a fishpond to the north of it. Two further baileys are present to the east and a hollow way. Excavations by Hope Taylor in 1959 indicated that a ringwork was constructed in the late 11th century which in the early 12th century was filled in and a motte constructed. Scheduled.

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SO 339914 Motte & Bailey (NR) (1)

More Castle, a 10ft high motte with two rectangular baileys and remains of a possible third. The castle is surrounded by marsh, into which some of the defences have sunk. Plan. (2)

Excavations by Brian Hope-Taylor revealed "some form of ring-work, pre-dating the motte and at least one substantial stone building in the inner bailey". Dateable pottery was found. (3)

Turf covered masonry at west end of mound. (4)

"Possibly the 'moretoin' of 1215" (5)

The motte, 2.5m high with a flat top 20.0 in diameter is surrounded by a wide ditch with an outer bank, 0.4m high, on the west and north. No traces of masonry were seen on the motte. To the east there is an inner bailey, much mutilated on the south side within which the possible site of a building was noted at SO 33999140 with a possible fishpond to the north of it. To the east again a broad hollow-way cuts through a second bailey which
is defined by scarp slopes and traces of a bank at the north and south west corners. The hollow-way leads on for a further 200.0m to join the present road north west of the church. The possible third bailey has no southern side where it abuts on to marshy ground. It could represent an area of settlement within the medieval village but no house-platforms are visible.
Resurveyed at 1:2500. (6)

SO 340 914. Motte and bailey castle. Scheduled. (7)

The Medieval motte and bailey and hollow way, described by the previous authorities, were seen as earthworks and mapped from aerial photographs during the Marches Uplands Mapping Project. Ridge and furrow earthworks are visible on the second and third baileys, to either side of the hollow way at SO 3409 9148, SO 3413 916 and SO 3402 9143. A small complex of up to 5 small enclosures, 12-15m across, are visible at SO 3399 9141 on the south side of the inner bailey, they are considered to be Medieval settlement features.
(Morph No. MU.410.10)
(8)

SO34099147. An archaeological excavation carried out in 1959 indicated that the castle was originally a ringwork, probably constructed in the late 11th century. Shortly after, possibly in the early 12th century, the centre of the ringwork was filled in and heightened to form the motte. This flat-topped mound now measures around 34 metres in diameter at its base, 21 metres across the top and stands up to 2.1 metres high. The inner and outer baileys lie to the north east of the motte. Immediately north east of the outer bailey is a further enclosure, originally a toft forming part of the medieval village of More. Scheduled. (9)

Listed by Cathcart King. (10)

An alleged fishpond recorded by the OS is in fact the northern ditch of the inner bailey of the motte and bailey castle at More. (11)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1963

( 2) edited by William Page 1908 The Victoria history of Shropshire: volume one

The Victoria history of the counties of England (JC Wall) Page(s)397, PLAN

( 3) CBA Group 8 West Midlands annual archaeological news sheet

(G Webster) 2, 1959 Page(s)7

( 4) Annotated Record Map

Corr 6" (L F Chitty undated)

( 5) D F Renn 1968 Norman Castles in Britain

Page(s)249

( 6) Field Investigators Comments

F1 DJC 27-NOV-73

(7) Scheduled Monument Notification

English Heritage SAM List Salop March 1994 Page(s)23

(8) Oblique aerial photograph reference number

NMR SO3491/51-2 (CPT 16309/0710-11) 14-JUN-1995

(9) Scheduled Monument Notification

EH Scheduling revision, 09-APR-2001

(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)427

(11) English Heritage Alternative Action Report

Non-Scheduling Alternative Action Report Submission 32, ML Reid, 29-Feb-2000

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