Clungunford Motte

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

The monument includes the remains of a small motte castle situated on the east bank of the River Clun in close proximity to St Cuthbert's Parish Church. it includes a castle mound, or motte, originally circular in plan with a diameter of approximately 28m rising to an irregular surfaced summit 3.2m high. There are old quarrying scars on the east and south sides of the motte which distort the shape of the mound. Around the east side of the mound are traces of a surrounding ditch up to 10m wide and 0.3m deep, from which material for the construction of the mound would have been quarried. This will continue as a buried feature around the north and west sides of the motte. Immediately south of the motte a small stream runs westwards close to the south side of the mound. The straightness of the stream course suggests that it follows a man-made channel which is of later date than the motte. (EH Scheduling report 1995)

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SO39567878

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 106657
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 01166 '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/clungunford.html
    http://www.ecastles.co.uk/clungunford.html
• Books
  • Duckers, Peter and Anne, 2006, Castles of Shropshire (Stroud: Tempus) p64-5
    Salter, Mike, 2001 (2edn), The Castles and Moated Mansions of Shropshire (Malvern) p87 [slight]
    Higham, R. and Barker, P., 1992, Timber Castles (Batsford) p194
    Jackson, M.J.,1988, Castles of Shropshire (Shrewsbury: Shropshire Libraries) p21
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p424
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker) p148
    Rees, W., 1933, Historical map of South Wales and the Borders in the C14
    Wall [after Downham], 1908, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Shropshire Vol1 p384-5
    Hartshorne, C.H., 1841, Salopia Antiqua (London) p102-6
• Journal Articles
  • 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
    Rocke, T.O., 1874, 'Clungunford Tumulus' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol29 p123-7
    Rocke, T.O., 1863, Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol19 p317-19 [excavation report]
• Other sources, 'grey' literature, unpublished works, etc. (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • English Heritage, 1995, Scheduling Papers (Revision, 01/11/1995)
    Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission, 1987, Scheduled Monument Report on SAM 32992 (06/08/1987)