Redcastle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Red Castle; Rubree; Radeclif; Redcliffe; Redde; Castle Rous; Hawkstone

In the civil parish of Weston Under Redcastle. In the historic county of Shropshire (Modern Authority of Shropshire, 1974 county of Shropshire).

Begun 1227 for Henry de Audley, Sheriff of Shropshire and Staffordshire with romantic additions of C18. Regularly coursed and dressed red sandstone; now roofless. Situated on 2 narrow ridges of rock with a deep ravine between, separated into upper and lower wards by a deep rock-cut ditch running at right-angles across ravine. Apart from the Great Tower and a smaller turret at north-east corner, only fragments of towers and curtain wall survive. Great Tower: still stands to considerable height: circular plan with chamfered plinth to bottom and rectangular slits to tower. Deep well beneath, hollowed out of sandstone as is bottom part of tower, approached by adit created c.1780. The height of the tower was increased by either Sir Rowland or Sir Richard Hill in late C18 to make it a more conspicuous object in the view from Grotto Hill, but it has again been reduced and what now survives (March 1986) appears to be largely medieval work. North-east tower: only a fragment of small circular tower survives. 2 similar towers formerly guarded south-east and south- west angles of lower ward but the former has now almost completely disappeared above ground and the latter is very fragmentary. Traces of curtain wall on ridges to east and west with more substantial fragment spanning ditch between upper and lower wards on west. The site is very overgrown and apparently has never been systematically investigated, making it difficult to distinguish between medieval work and C18 'romantic' additions. The natural defences are very impressive, probably never needing much strengthening except on south, and can be compared with those at Heighley Castle (Staffs), also begun by Henry de Audley. Licence to crenellate granted to Henry de Audley in 1227.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law. This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 428343)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SJ57172946

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 70617
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 01140 '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) p131-35
    Salter, Mike, 2001 (2edn), The Castles and Moated Mansions of Shropshire (Malvern) p66-7
    Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses Vol2 (Cambridge) p476
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p219 [slight]
    Jackson, M.J.,1988, Castles of Shropshire (Shrewsbury: Shropshire Libraries) p46-8 [plan]
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p428
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p283
    Curtis, R.A., 1972 (2edn), Monumental Follies p154-6
    Pevsner, N., 1958, The Buildings of England: Shropshire (London, Penguin) p146
    Oman, Charles W.C., 1926, Castles (1978 edn Beetham House: New York) p134
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Wall [after Downham], 1908, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Shropshire Vol1 p410
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p149-50
    Leach, F.,1891, The County Seats of Shropshire, p9-10
    Stackhouse-Acton, Frances, 1868, The Castles and Old Mansions of Shropshire (Shrewsbury) p19
    Edwards, E., 1858, Notes on the Castellated Structures of Shropshire p30-1
    (Hill), n.d., Some Account of the Antiquities of Hawkstone (Shrewsbury) p15-54
• Journal Articles
  • Arrol, A. and Snell, A., 1981, ‘Hawkstone Park and the Red Castle' Archaeological Journal Vol138 p43-4
    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
    1958 July 3, Country Life p20-1
    Anon, 1898, Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society, p121
    Phillips, 1896, Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol2 p126-9
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Calendar of Patent Rolls (1225-32) p138
    Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p418-9
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/shropseng.html#shrops10]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p397
    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)
  • Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission, 1985, Scheduled Monument Report on SAM 17053