| Summary : A motte and bailey castle at Quatford, surviving as earthworks, but damaged due to road widening. It is situated next to a cliff above the River Severn, to the west of the collegiate church of St. Mary Magdalene. The D-shaped motte stands about 9 metres high and measures 35 x 50 metres at the base and 11 metres across the top. A rock-cut ditch 3 metres deep bounds the eastern side. Excavation of this ditch produced finds dating to the early medieval period. The bailey is approximately 0.5 hectare in area, and is defined on its northern and southern sides by scarps, measuring about 2 metres and 1.3 metres in height respectively. Possible site of a medieval hunting lodge. Scheduled. |
More information : (SO 73759072) Motte and Bailey. (1)
A motte and bailey, sited on a sheer cliff 75 foot high on the east bank of the River Severn. A flat-bottomed rock-cut ditch, 15 feet wide at the bottom and 8 feet deep from the 'level of the bailey, isolates the motte from the ridge which forms thebailey. The material from the ditch had been piled on to the knoll of natural sandstone to raise the top of the motte some 25 feet above the ditch floor. The bailey appears to have been kidney shaped, with a steep scarp on its northern edge and a much less steep scarp on the southern side. The cutting of the road in the nineteenth century and the building of School House have distorted the eastern edge of the bailey, and left no evidence for a former ditch on tht side. The motte and its ditch are tree-covered. The motte ditch was cleared out in 1830-1 and the finds included a horseshoe, spur and whetstone, together with a silver-gilt ring and penny of Henry I and a quantity of burnt straw. A segment on the east side of the bailey was excavated in 1960 by Barker prior to road-widening. The area measuring 90ft x 30ft revealed a large complex of post-holes, ranging in depth from two inches to three feet, but not closely dateable. Finds included a Neolithic/Bronze Age leaf-shaped flint arrowhead, a 12th/13th century bronze annular brooch, a 15th/16th century bronze buckle and a thin scatter of 12th/19th century sherds. There was no evidence of continuous occupation.
In 912 Aethelflaed 'timbered a burh, (SO 79 SW 52) at 'Briege' later identified by Florence of Worcester as Bridgnorth, but the possibility remains that this was at Quatford. Probably in 1086 Roger de Montgomery obtained the manor of Eardington, of which Quatford was part, from the Priory of Wenlock and created a borough there, mentioned in Domesday book as yielding nothing.
A possible hunting lodge which was later castellated probably existed within what later became the bailey and the motte represents the final addition to fortification built probably about 1086. This borough was transferred to a new castle at Bridgnorth in 1101-2. (2-3)
The motte is crossed by a shallow linear ditch running north-south and the north and south sides have been damaged by livestock. (4)
The motte and bailey is generally as described above. The largely natural knoll forming the motte has a summit diameter of 9.0m, which has been severely mutilated by trenches running north to south, and east to west. It is 6.2m above the bottom of the ditch, which is 3.5m below the level of the bailey.
The bailey is formed round an east-west ridge, and measures 85.0m from north to south and 40.0m from west east where the recently widened road runs in a cutting.
Published survey (1:2500) resurveyed on MSD. (5)
Additional information (6)
Motte and Bailey. Scheduled (7)
SO737907 Quatford Motte and Bailey Castle. Scheduled (8)(9)
A motte and bailey castle, surviving as earthworks, but damaged due to road widening. It is situated next to a cliff above the River Severn, to the west of the collegiate church of St. Mary Magdalene. The D-shaped motte stands about 9 metres high and measures 35 x 50 metres at the base and 11 metres across the top. A rock-cut ditch 3 metres deep bounds the eastern side. Excavation of this ditch produced finds dating to the early medieval period. The bailey is approximately 0.5 hectare in area, and is defined on its northern and southern sides by scarps, measuring about 2 metres and 1.3 metres in height respectively. Possible site of a medieval hunting lodge. Scheduled. (10)
Listed by Cathcart King. (11) |