Oswestry Town Wall

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; de Alba Monasterio; Osolvestre; Osewaldestre; Oswaldestre; Croes Oswald; Beatrice Gate; New Gate; Black Gate; Williow Gate

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

The Medieval town defences of Oswestry were built from 1272 by order of King Edward I and were one mile in circumference. The walls were slighted during the Civil War, but the gates survived. Excavations in 1973 have recovered the foundations for part of the walls. Frist murage granted in 1257. Leland says walls were one mile in circumference and contained no towers. Early C15 Beatrice Gate destroyed 1782, medieval Black Gate demolished 1771, early C14 New Gate demolished 1781, medieval Willow Gate demolished 1782. These gates remained standing after the wall was demolished and continued to the site for taking tolls into C17.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SJ290296

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 65975; 65979; 65985; 65982; 65988
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 00493; 05713; 05718 '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.oswestry-history.co.uk/town-wall/index.html [Copy of Pratt 1980]
• Books
  • Duckers, Peter and Anne, 2006, Castles of Shropshire (Stroud: Tempus) p124
    Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p83, 147, 204, 266
    Salter, Mike, 2001 (2edn), The Castles and Moated Mansions of Shropshire (Malvern) p64
    Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report) p92-116
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p436
    Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) Medieval Towns in England and Wales (CBA research reports) pp57-71
    Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p207-8
    Watkin, I., 1920, Oswestry with an Account of its Old Houses, Shops, etc, and Some of their Occupants p111-112
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co) p240
    Cathrall, Wm, 1855, History of Oswestry [facsimile printed 1987 by Galley Books]
    Price, W., 1815, History of Oswestry p26, 27 http://books.google.com/books?id=SYIHAAAAQAAJ
• Journal Articles
  • Frost, P., 2005, 'Oswestry, land off Chapel Street' West Midlands Archaeology Vol48 p41-43
    Reynolds, P.N., 1984, ‘Oswestry town wall' Shropshire Archaeological Society Newsletter 20 p11–12
    Youngs, S.M. and Clark, J., 1981, ‘Medieval Britain in 1980' Medieval Archaeology Vol25 p213 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    Pratt, D., 1980, 'Search for town wall' West Midlands Archaeology Vol23 p105-8
    James, C., 1979, 'The town walls, Oswestry' Shropshire News Sheet Vol10 p10
    Day, W., 1973-74, ‘Oswestry town walls' Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society Vol59 pt3 p278-9
    Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1967, 'Masonry castles in Wales and the Marches: a list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol116 p71-132
    Roberts, 1885, Shropshire Archaeological Society Vol8 p145-86
    Leighton, S., 1881-2, Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol5 p163-5
• Guidebooks
  • Border Counties Archaeological Group, 1981, Oswestry Town Wall
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • CPR (1247-1258) p609; (1272-1281) p247; (1281-1291) p57; p108 [murage grants]
• 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) p394-6
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol3 p74 http://www.archive.org/details/itineraryofjohnl03lelauoft
• Other sources, 'grey' literature, unpublished works, etc. (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Worthington, M., 1989, Oswestry Castle and Town Wall: Report on the Excavations in 1988