ELLESMERE CASTLE

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DESCRIPTION

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Medieval motte and bailey utilising a natural glacial moraine and surviving as an earthwork. It became a royal castle in 1138, by which time, presumably, stone structures had been built on the motte. The motte and bailey is thought to have been built by Roger de Montgomery shortly after 1086, for it was confiscated by the Crown after rebellion in 1101. The castle was abandoned some time after 1263. The mound is 80m in diameter across the base, 52m across the top, and stands 11m high. A ditch 20m wide and 3m deep separates the motte from the bailey to its South-East. The sub-rectangular bailey consists of a terrace, circa 34m by 70m, bounded on the North and East sides by a ditch. Earthworks to the North-West were once thought to be a second bailey, but are now known to be 19th and 20th century landscaping. The motte and bailey are scheduled.

DETAIL

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MORE INFORMATION & SOURCES

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(SJ 40313467) Castle (NR) Site of (NAT). (1)

Motte and bailey castle constructed by Roger de Montgomery who strengthened a natural mound, used a lesser one at its foot to form the church bailey, and beyond that formed a borough in an outer bailey. (2) On the southern side a ditch separates the mound from a curiously-shaped base court. There are no remains of the keep, and the top of the mound is now a bowling green.(3)
It became a royal castle c 1138 (2 & 4). (2-5)

Motte and bailey, utilising a natural glacial moraine, the motte having a base diameter of 80.0m and a height of 11.0m. The summit, 50.0m in diameter, is occupied by a bowling green.
The motte ditch, separating motte from bailey, is 20.0m in width and up to 3.5m in depth. The bailey, roughly crescent shaped, is 20.0 to 30.0m in width, and encircles the motte for 90.0m on the SE side. It is bounded by a ditch and outer bank, the ditch, where best preserved, being 15.0m in width, and 1.0m in depth, the bank, 13.0m in width and 1.5m in height. The bank is carried beyond the bailey, around the NE side of the motte. The southern side of the bailey has been quarried into and a small quarry breaks the line of the outer bank on the E side, but otherwise the motte and bailey are in fair condition.
No evidence for 'church' and 'outer bailey' to the NW was found, all extant earthworks being 19th c landscaping of the natural mound, within private gardens.
Published 1:2500 survey revised. (6)

SJ 403347. Ellesmere Castle. Scheduled. (7) (8) (9)

Listed by Cathcart King. (10)

The lordship of Ellesmere was granted to William Peverel of Dover by Henry I, but in 1154 Henry II withheld the castle from Peverel's heirs. It remained in Royal hands until 1267, when it was granted to Hamon le Strange as a reward for his services to the King in the Baron's Wars. It remained a le Strange possesion until the 15th century. (11)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1902

( 2) Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society

56, 1957-60 Page(s)3

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

The Victoria history of the counties of England Page(s)394-5

( 4) D F Renn 1968 Norman Castles in Britain

1968 Page(s)183

( 5) General reference

Crawford Collection Ellesmere Castle (not numbered,not dated)

( 6) Field Investigators Comments

F1 ASP 03-AUG-73

( 7) English Heritage 1987 County list of Scheduled Ancient Monuments : December 1987

Eng Heritage SAMs Salop Page(s)5

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

English Heritage SAM List Salop Page(s)5

(9) Scheduled Monument Notification

03-Jul-2000

(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)424

(11) R Allen Brown, H M Colvin and A J Taylor 1963 The history of the King's Works, volume 2 : the Middle Ages

Page(s)645-6

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