Bishops Castle town defences

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

Town defences identified by D Hill, and excavated in two locations (SA5141 and SA5142) CMHTS Comment:- Defences were replaced by back lanes before post medieval period; identified course from OS map 1883. Fieldwork (1994) showed most obvious indications of defences at S end of defended area. The SE angle (in Station Street) is wall 1.0m high revetting raised ground to NW; similarly SW angle in Union Street is wall 2m high. Houses along NW to SE alignment of Union Street/Station Street are terraced into higher ground, with revetting walls up to 2.0m high. There is a low revetting wall in places along W side of Station Street, and a slightly raised area in garden of Hill View in NW angle of defences. The west side of defences along Union Street is not clearly marked although there is a steep bank 2m high on west side of Union Street. The defences are not readily apparent as earthworks but seem to leave slight traces. (Shropshire SMR record)
The excavation were inconclusive and have not been published and I wonder if the revetting is purely about terracing the hillside for level building platforms. There are no historical sources to support town defences here.

This site has been described as a;
Urban Defence.

The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Questionable.

Nothing visible remains.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SO322888

County Historic Environment Record

(formerly Sites and Monuments Record)

Other sources and unpublished works (Theses, in-house reports and other such)

Buteux, V. and Dalwood, H., 1993-96, CMHTS SMR Records Shropshire: Acton Burnell to Bishop's Castle, Bishops Castle 5145
Dalwood, H. et al, 1996, Archaeological Assessment of Bishop's Castle, Shropshire (CMHTS)

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English Heritage and other individuals and organisations. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commerical purposes. The owner of this site does not receive any income from this site and funds it himself.

It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from any site without proper recording and reporting. Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

Please help me to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting me if you see errors or if you can add information.
I do acknowledge the help I get with this site.

¤¤¤¤¤

Bishops Castle town defences

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SO322888

Sources of information, references and further reading