More information : [SJ 4012 0599] Mound [GT]. (1)
Excavations of a large flat mound in the centre of Pontesbury, long thought to be the site of a castle, showed it to be a ring work of 3
periods with a ditch some six feet deep and with a rampart corresponding on the inside. The first occupation was on the natural ground level; no structures were found in the small area excavated. Period 2 was marked by a secondary rampart of stones and clay piled against the back of the first. Associated with this second rampart were the remains of a wall of unmortared stones. The remains of period 3 consisted of a clay floor with 4 small post-holes along its edge. There were no datable finds from period 1. Periods 2 and 3 can be dated by pottery to within the period 1150 - 1225. (2)
Excavations in 1964 by P.A. Barker for the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works revealed the massive footings of a square tower or keep. The first defences on the site were thought to have preceded by only a short time the second rampart, which was dated by pottery to the late 12th or first half of the 13th cent. The tower, which was probably constructed at the same time, contained a layer of burnt wattle and daub with pottery of 1150 to 1300. Presumably, as no later pottery could be found, it went out of use by the latter date, and was possibly destroyed by fire. The ruins were mentioned by Leland, and the tower was still being robbed of stone in the early 19th cent. (3-4)
The mound, originally some 60.0m. in diameter, has been destroyed on all but the W. side, where it remains to a height of 1.5m. Published survey 25" revised. (5)
The present alignment of Chapel Street, Castle Meadow and Main Road, enclosing the ring-work, suggests that there was a large outer bailey. The latter appears to have had a stone wall for the name 'Stanniel', applied in the 19th century to part of Main Street, first occurs circa 1540 in the form Stanwall (ie stonewall). (6)
There are now no recognisable visible remains of this ring and bailey or its "stonewall". According to Mr Emlyn Jones, a butcher, who lives by the site, the remaining west side of the ringwork was reduced, spread, and put under grass, after the excavations were finally completed.
Survey of 19 6 71 (5) and MSD revised. (7)
SJ 401060 Mound south east of church. Scheduled. (8)(9)
Scheduling affirmed 09-MAY-2001. (10)
Listed by Cathcart King. (11)
The western part of the ringwork was seen as an earthwork on aerial photographs and has been mapped by RCHME's Marches Uplands Mapping Project. (12) |