More information : (SJ 3386 0788) Caus Medieval borough, now deserted.
The Borough of Caus, which lay within a single rampart to the north and west of Caus Castle (See SJ 30 NW 1) was probably in existence by 1200 when the grant of a weekly market was obtained. The borough had been encircled with a wall and two gates before 1300. By circa 1349 it contained 58 burgage-tenements, and two gates and street names are recorded. After the Black Death however the borough went into decay and the last mention of a house there occurs in 1614. The course of the road from the East Gate to Wallop Gate, where there are remains of a massive stone gatehouse, is still visible and was still in use as a field road in the 19th century. The free chapel of St. Nicholas, which appears to have been situated opposite the inner gate of the castle, was probably founded in the 12th century. It was still furnished in 1612, and was probably used as a domestic chapel until the destruction of the castle. The chapel of St. Margaret in the borough of Caus was founded in 1272 and is last recorded in 1447. (1)
Whether the borough, if a borough it was, took advantage of a site which was already fortified, is open to question. There is little evidence of characteristic Iron Age work in the entrances, and certainly none known by way of finds etc. (2)
Scheduled (3)
The Medieval motte and bailey of Caus Castle, and the adjacent earthworks of Caus Borough were seen as earthworks and mapped from aerial photographs during the Marches Uplands Mapping Project. Ridge and furrow field of probable Medieval date are visible within (and in the fields surrounding) the castle. Located at SJ 3363 0813, SJ 3404 0780 and SJ 3389 0797. (Morph No. MU.31.2-6) (4-5)
Authority 6 assumes that the earthworks were originally an Iron Age hillfort, reused by the Normans, but cites no evidence for this assumption. (6-7)
SJ 3377 0789: Small deserted medieval town or borough of Caus established within the outer bailey of Caus Castle for the purpose of serving the castle. Scheduled.(8)
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