Whittington Village Defence (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Whittington.
In the historic county of Shropshire.
Modern Authority of Shropshire.
1974 county of Shropshire.
Medieval County of Shropshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ325310
Latitude 52.87261° Longitude -3.00351°

Whittington Village Defence has been described as a Urban Defence although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

Description

In an Appendix listing 'Earthwork castles with attached village enclosures' Bond writes "Whittington: Multiplication of outer banks south of castle (Renn, p. 345; King, p. 432)"

P. J. Brown has completed a research programme for English Heritage at this Marcher castle, which was sited on low-lying ground, using the natural springs and marshy ground for defence. It was defended on its S. and W. sides by a sequence of either two or three ditches. Aerial photography and geophysics have revealed that the W. ditches continue northwards beyond the castle, where they are no longer visible as earthworks. The evidence suggests that the site originated as a curved, ditched enclosure in the later prehistoric period, and that the castle builders re-used a section of these defences for their own work. Fragmentary archaeological and documentary evidence suggests that the site was also occupied in the pre-Conquest period. (Med. Arch. 2004)

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 01003.

Books
- Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 266
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 432, 434
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 345
Periodical Articles
- Bradley, J and Gaimster, M. (eds), 2004, 'Medieval Britain and Ireland in 2003' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 48 p. 287-8 online copy
  Bond J., 2001, 'Earthen Castles, Outer Enclosures and the Earthworks at Ascott d'Oilly Castle, Oxfordshire' Oxoniensia Vol. 46 p. 67-8 (Appendix: Earthwork castles with attached village enclosures) online copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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