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SHOCKLACH CASTLE

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Medieval motte and moated enclosure surviving as earthworks. Shotlack Castle was a strategically important Welsh Frontier fort. It has a well preserved motte with a mound rising 4 metres above the bottom of the ditch, which has a counterscarp bank. There is also a moated enclosure measuring 70 metres across and 78 metres transversely, surrounded by a ditch 2.7 metres deep. Aerial survey indicates that the moated enclosure is divided by a curving ditch. The moated enclosure may represent the site of a fortified manor house.

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(SJ 43465084) Castle (NR) (Site of) (NAT)
(SJ 43345078) Earthworks (NR) (1)

Shotlack was a Welsh frontier fortress forming an important link in the chain of Cheshire castles between Alford and Malpas. Lord Dudley claimed the right in 15 Hen VII to maintain this castle fortified, ditched and crenellated. The earthworks were very strong, occupying an important pass where the present road to Chester crosses a deep ravine. On the W side of the road is a very early circular mound 20' high, on the top of which the Normans placed their keep. On the E side of the road is another raised kite-shaped platform also of ancient formation. No vestiges of masonry now remain (2). Scheduled. (3).
(2-3)

Published survey (1:2500) correct. (4)

1. SJ 43345078. A well preserved motte, situated on the edge of a steep ravine. The mound rises 4.0 m above the bottom of the ditch, which has a counterscarp bank.

2. SJ 43465084. A moated enclosure, D-shaped in plan measuring internally 70 m across the chord and 78 m transversely. It is surrounded by a strong ditch, 2.7 m deep in places, now dry but originally waterfilled by damming the S arm through which a stream flows. The modern road now overlies the dam. The enclosure is undoubtedly the site of the fortified manor-house described by Mackenzie, but there are no structural remains. Published survey (1:2500) correct. (5)

Aerial observation of the moated earthwork shows it to have been divided by a curving ditch running parallel to the moat ditch on its northern side, effectively separating a southern, almost circular mound from a northern crescent-shaped one. The whole complex resembles a very small version of Shotwick Castle in the Wirral. The circular mound has a small oval enclosure bounded by a low bank and shallow ditch atop it, of unknown function. (6)

Listed by Cathcart King (7)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1954

( 2) by Geo T Clark 1884 Medieval military architecture in England. Volume 2

Page(s)179

( 3) Ministry of Works 1961 Ancient monuments in England and Wales : list prepared by the Ministry of Works, corrected to 31st December 1960

List Anc Mon of Eng 6 Wales 1961 22 (MOW) Page(s)22

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F1 TPW 17-NOV-64

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

F2 DJC 16-MAR-76

(7) by David J Cathcart King 1983 Castellarium anglicanum : an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the islands. Volume I : Anglesey - Montgomery

1 Page(s)68

(6) Cheshire archaeological bulletin

(Williams S R) 9 - 1983 Page(s)59-61

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