CAUS

ABOUT THIS MONUMENT

+ / -

EH Visitor Information
Related Monuments
Related Text
Investigation History

More Pictures
Modern Map
Old Map
Aerial Photograph

Monument Types
Sources
Thesaurus
Description

DESCRIPTION

+ / -

Deserted medieval borough which was established primarily to serve Caus Castle. Caus was probably in existence by 1200 when the grant of a weekly market was obtained. The borough was encircled with a wall and two gates before 1300 and adjoined Caus Castle to the north and west (see SJ30NW1). After the Black Death Caus went into decay and the last mention of a tenanted house there was in 1614. The free Chapel of St Nicholas opposite the Castle gate was in use until the destruction of the castle in 1645. The Chapel of St Margaret was founded in 1272 and is last documented in 1447. The interior street between East Gate and Wallop Gate was in use as part of a field road in 1816. The 9 acre site was surveyed in 1971. Scheduled.

DETAIL

+ / -

MORE INFORMATION & SOURCES

+ / -

(SJ 3386 0788) Caus Medieval borough, now deserted.

The Borough of Caus, which lay within a single rampart to the north and west of Caus Castle (See SJ 30 NW 1) was probably in existence by 1200 when the grant of a weekly market was obtained. The borough had been encircled with a wall and two gates before 1300. By circa 1349 it contained 58 burgage-tenements, and two gates and street names are recorded. After the Black Death however the borough went into decay and the last mention of a house there occurs in 1614. The course of the road from the East Gate to Wallop Gate, where there are remains of a massive stone gatehouse, is still visible and was still in use as a field road in the 19th century. The free chapel of St. Nicholas, which appears to have been situated opposite the inner gate of the castle, was probably founded in the 12th century. It was still furnished in 1612, and was probably used as a domestic chapel until the destruction of the castle. The chapel of St. Margaret in the borough of Caus was founded in 1272 and is last recorded in 1447. (1)

Whether the borough, if a borough it was, took advantage of a site which was already fortified, is open to question. There is little evidence of characteristic Iron Age work in the entrances, and certainly none known by way of finds etc. (2)

Scheduled (3)

The Medieval motte and bailey of Caus Castle, and the adjacent earthworks of Caus Borough were seen as earthworks and mapped from aerial photographs during the Marches Uplands Mapping Project. Ridge and furrow field of probable Medieval date are visible within (and in the fields surrounding) the castle. Located at SJ 3363 0813, SJ 3404 0780 and SJ 3389 0797. (Morph No. MU.31.2-6) (4-5)

Authority 6 assumes that the earthworks were originally an Iron Age hillfort, reused by the Normans, but cites no evidence for this assumption. (6-7)

SJ 3377 0789: Small deserted medieval town or borough of Caus established within the outer bailey of Caus Castle for the purpose of serving the castle. Scheduled. (8)

SOURCE TEXT

(1) edited by A.T.Gaydon 1968 A history of Shropshire: volume VIII

The Victoria history of the counties of England Page(s)308

(2) Field Investigators Comments

Field Investigator CFW 06-DEC-71

(3) Scheduled Monument Notification

Shropshire: March-1994, 14

(4) Oblique aerial photograph reference number

CUCAP OT 89-94, 09-Jul-1954

(5) Oblique aerial photograph reference number

CUCAP AMT 42-51, 19-Dec-1965

(6) Royal Archaeological Institute The archaeological journal

138, 1981 Page(s)34

(7) Jackson M 1988 Castles of Shropshire

Page(s)14-16

(8) Scheduled Monument Notification

EH scheduling amendment, 12-NOV-2001

RELATED MONUMENTS

+ / -

Monument Name/No

Resources

Description

CAUS CASTLE
WESTBURY

Monument Pictures
Monument Maps
Monument Investigation
Monument Sources
EH Visitor Information

Medieval motte and bailey castle probably originating shortly after the Conquest, on the site of a small Iron Age multivallate hillfort. The tower, ke...

WEARD BYRIG
WESTBURY

Monument Pictures
Monument Maps
Monument Investigation
Monument Sources
EH Visitor Information

Possible Saxon burh at Westbury. A burh is documented as being built in 915 at `Weard byrig' in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and since it is mentioned ...

MONUMENT TYPES

+ / -

COMMENTS

+ / -

Please help us keep our information accurate let us know if you see any errors on this page.

Further information about monuments may be obtained by contacting NMR Enquiry and Research Services , through the English Heritage website.

EH Prints
English Heritage
Heritage Explorer
Heritage Gateway
Images of England
NMR
ViewFinder