Oswestry Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Album Monasterium; Blancminster; Blankmouster; Croes Oswald; L'Oeuvre; L'uvre; Castle Loure; Castle Philip; Luure; Luvre

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

Medieval motte and bailey castle possibly extant in 1086 surviving as an earthwork mound although the bailey is completely destroyed. Stone castle built in 1148 by Madoc ap Meredyth, in disrepair by late C15, and demolished between 1647 and 1673. Only fragments of medieval structure survive: 2 substantial pieces of collapsed masonry (probably from former shell keep) on top of levelled motte and the possible remains of a reconstructed bastion on east side; revetment wall around the base of the motte probably late C19 but re-using medieval masonry.

This site has been described as a;
Timber Castle
Masonry Castle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Masonry footings remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This site is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 255543)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SJ29062981

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 65937

Web site links

http://www.castlewales.com/oswestry.html
http://www.oswestry-history.co.uk/town-wall/wall-building.html#castle
http://www.ecastles.co.uk/oswestry.html
http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_midlands/126/oswestry.html

Books

Duckers, Peter and Anne, 2006, Castles of Shropshire (Stroud: Tempus) p122-24
Salter, Mike, 2001 (2edn), The Castles and Moated Mansions of Shropshire (Malvern) p64
Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses Vol2 (Cambridge) p476
Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p215
Jackson, M.J.,1988, Castles of Shropshire (Shrewsbury: Shropshire Libraries) p44-5
Suppe, F., 1984, 'The Garrisoning of Oswestry: A Baronial Castle on the Welsh Marches' in Kathryn Reyerson and Faye Powe (eds), The Medieval Castle: Romance and Reality (Kendall/Hunt, Dubuque, Iowa) p63-78
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p427
Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p273
Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker) p271
Oman, Charles W.C., 1926, Castles (1978 edn Beetham House: New York) p134
Watkin, I, 1920, Oswestry with an Account of its Old Houses, Shops, etc, and Some of their Occupants p164, p281, p285-287, p289-293
Armitage, Ella, 1912, The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles (London: John Murray) p179-80
Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
Wall [after Downham], 1908, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Shropshire Vol1 p316, 386
Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p145-8
Clark, G.T., 1884, Medieval Military Architecture in England (Wyman and Sons) Vol2 p346-1
Catherall, W.,1855, History of Oswestry: comprising the British, Saxon, Norman and English Eras p15, p92, p183-184

Journal Articles

Harfield, C.G., 1991, 'A Hand-list of Castles Recorded in the Domesday Book' English Historical Review Vol106 p371-392 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8266%28199104%29106%3A419%3C371%3AAHOCRI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q
Worthington, M., 1989, 'Oswestry Castle and Town Wall: Report on the Excavations in 1988' ?
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
Brown, R. Allen, 1955, 'Royal Castle-building in England 1154-1216' English Historical Review Vol70 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press)] pp19-64
Armitage, E., 1904 April, 'The Early Norman Castles of England' The English Historical Review Vol74 p242-3 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8266%28190404%2919%3A74%3C209%3ATENCOE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1
Parry-Jones, J., 1894, Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol17 p107-73
(Parry-Jones), 1894, Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol49 p59-67
Eyton, R.W., 1887, 'The castles of Shropshire' Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol10 p20
1885, Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol8 p145-86
Clark, G.T., 1878, 'Oswestry and Whittington' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol33 p179-87 [reprinted in MMA]

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] p417-8

Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)

William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/shropseng.html#shrops14]
Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p395, 397
Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol3 p75

Other sources and unpublished works (Theses, in-house reports and other such)

Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission, 1983, Scheduled Monument Report on SAM 14575

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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