Caus Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Cause; Caurs; Chaus; Caws; Caurse; Alretone; Auretone; Averetone

In the civil parish of Westbury. In the historic county of Shropshire (Modern Authority of Shropshire, 1974 county of Shropshire).

Probable that the outer earthworks of this site are those of an Iron Age fort, adapted in medieval times to form the outer bailey of this impressive castle. It consists of a high motte with a very small summit, crowned with the ruins of a small stone tower; and a massively defended inner bailey. The tower, keep and curtain wall were rebuilt in stone in 1198 and maintained in full order until destroyed in 1645. The bailey contained a borough. However, in 1521 the castle was described as being in great ruin and decay. The small tower on the motte may well be a late addition and be little more than a belvedere. The motte at Caus is very steep. The original Caus Castle was actually built nearby at Hawcock's Mount.
Cause castle is not the Alretone in the Shropshire part of Domesday Book. This is Trewern just over the modern border in Wales. I wrote an article on this in The Montgomeryshire Collections 64 (1976). Alretone is from Old English alra-tun ‘settlement where there are alder trees’, a close translation of Welsh Trewern: tref ‘settlement, farm’ (later ‘town’) and gwern which is both a plural of gwernen noun feminine ‘alder-tree’ and a singular gwern noun feminine ‘place where alder-trees grow’ with the extended meaning ‘a wet place’. Tref + gwern > Trewern by lenition (alias soft mutation). (Richard Morgan pers corr)

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SJ337078

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 66343
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 00249; 05109 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

• Web site links
  • http://www.castlewales.com/caus.html
    http://website.lineone.net/~corbett_group/First/caus.htm
    http://www.ecastles.co.uk/caus.html
• Books
  • Duckers, Peter and Anne, 2006, Castles of Shropshire (Stroud: Tempus) p48-53
    Salter, Mike, 2001 (2edn), The Castles and Moated Mansions of Shropshire (Malvern) p32-3
    Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses Vol2 (Cambridge) p476
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p210
    Higham, R. and Barker, P., 1992, Timber Castles (Batsford) p27, 28, 66, 195, 200, 201, 202, 229, 236, 237, 265
    Jackson, M.J.,1988, Castles of Shropshire (Shrewsbury: Shropshire Libraries) p14-16
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p421-2
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p207
    Meisel, J., 1980, Barons of the Welsh Frontier p7,9-10,62,161,199,201
    Gaydon, A.T. (ed), 1968, VCH Shropshire Vol8 p303, 308-10
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker) 139, 147
    Oman, Charles W.C., 1926, Castles (1978 edn Beetham House: New York) p133
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Wall [after Downham], 1908, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Shropshire Vol1 p399-400 [plan]
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p130-1
    Eyton, R.W., 1853-60, Antiquities of Shropshire Vol7 p6-8
    Phillips, T.,1779, History and Antiquities of Shrewsbury p228
• Journal Articles
  • Barker, P.A., 1981, ‘Caus Castle and Hawcocks Mount' Archaeological Journal Vol138 p34
    Morgan, R., 1976, ‘Trewern in Gorddwr: Domesday Manor and Knight’s Fief, 1086-1311’ Montgomeryshire Collections Vol64 p121-32
    Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1967, 'Masonry castles in Wales and the Marches: a list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol116 p71-132
    Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1963, 'Early castles in Wales and the Marches: a preliminary list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol112 p77-124
    Brown, R, Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' English Historical Review Vol74 p249-280 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p90-121] http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8266%28195904%2974%3A291%3C249%3AALOC1%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
    Renn, D.F., 1959, 'Mottes: a classification' Antiquity Vol33 p106-12
    Chitty, L.F., 1955, 'Caus Castle' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol104 p199-201
    Chitty, L.F., 1954, ‘Caus Castle' The Hundred-and-First Annual Meeting: Programme, 1954, CAA p19-21
    Chitty, Lily, 1949, 'Subsidiary Castle Sites West of Shrewsbury' Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society Vol53 p83-90
    1929-30, Offa Field Club p30-5
    Jones, 1918, Montgomeryshire Collections Vol38 p261-8
    Lee and Phillips, 1906, Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol29 p106-122
    Eyton, R.W., 1887, 'The castles of Shropshire' Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol10 p23
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p410-11
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/shropseng.html#shrops8]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p393, 396
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol5 p13 http://www.archive.org/details/itineraryofjohnl05lelauoft
• Other sources, 'grey' literature, unpublished works, etc. (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Morgan, Richard, 26-12-2008, pers corr
    English Heritage, 2001, Scheduling Papers [Revision, 18/09/2001]
    Buteux, V., 1996, Archaeological Assessment of Caus, Shropshire: The Central Marches Historic Towns Survey (Shropshire SMR)
    Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission, 1986, Scheduled Monument Report on SAM 21511