Cheswardine Castle

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

The remains of a moated site, known as Cheswardine Castle, and an associated linear bank, located 130m north of St. Swithun's Church. The moat is waterfilled, and surrounds a 30m square island. The moat arms are approximately 28m wide and over 2m deep, except the southern part of the western arm, which has been widened to form a pool. A stone causeway across the southern arm replaced an earlier causeway in the same location. The remains of a matching stone causeway cross the northern arm. No upstanding remains survive on the moat island, but embedded blocks of sandstone are visible. These are thought to represent the remains of the fortified manor house, Cheswardine Castle, first mentioned in 1330. To the west of the moat lies a linear bank, approximately 90m long and between 8 and 12m wide. It is orientated north-west by south-east, and partly overlies the widened end of the western moat arm. As it crosses the arm, the height of the bank increases from about 1.2m to 4m.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SJ71883007

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 74414
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 01037 '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.

• Books
  • Duckers, Peter and Anne, 2006, Castles of Shropshire (Stroud: Tempus) p57
    Salter, Mike, 2001 (2edn), The Castles and Moated Mansions of Shropshire (Malvern) p36
    Salter, Mike, 1993, Midlands Castles (Birmingham) p40
    Jackson, M.J.,1988, Castles of Shropshire (Shrewsbury: Shropshire Libraries) p17-18
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p422
    Donaldson-Hudson, R., 1939, Historical Survey of the Parish of Cheswardine (Shresbury) p39-41
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Wall [after Downham], 1908, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Shropshire Vol1 p403
• Journal Articles
  • Watson, M.D., 1987, 'Gazetteer of Moated Sites in Shropshire' Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol65 p4
    1886, Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol9 p166
• 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] p412
• Other sources, 'grey' literature, unpublished works, etc. (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission, 1985, Scheduled Monument Report on SAM 10101