More information : An earthwork was revealed by tree-felling, in Castlehill Wood. Centred SJ 6504 3265) by Peter Bentley in 1950.(a)
His description indicates a promontory site rising steeply above the River Tern, the flat hill top of less than a 1/4 acre cut off by a double rampart and ditch, with gap entrance to the west, and suggests a Norman castle site of a local type which adapts a naturally strong position, of which I have discovered analogies at Adderley and in Castle Rough, near Lee Brockhurst. It might possibly be a very small promontory fort. (1)
A larger Norman ringwork, situated at SJ 65103252, incorporates, and is modelled from the upper parts of a glacial morainic mound of sandy soil and small stones.
The mound sits atop steep slopes falling to a stream on the E and S but joins gently rising ground to the NW.
The base diameter is about 65.0m and the height to the interior is 3.0m from the outside ground level on the W. The D-shaped interior is 35.0m in diameter and is enclosed by a rampart, 14.0m to 17.0m in width and up to 2.0m in height. There is a 4.0m wide entrance in the SW side. The NE side has been carried away by a landslip to the stream below.
An outer ditch, 14.0m in width and 1.2m in depth provides additional defence on the weak NW side.
Published 1:2500 survey, 1967, correct. (3)
SJ 649 323. Castle mound W of Buntingsdale Hall. Scheduled. (4)
The earthwork and buried remains of a ringwork and bailey castle occupy an elevated position. The ringwork is 'D' shaped with the bailey to the north west. This castle is unusual as the bailey survives. In Shropshire ringworks are comparatively rare in relation to other contemporary types of early Norman castle, incorporating a mound. (5) |