Cans (The Gatehouse Record)

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

Cans has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are uncertain remains.

Description

Under the year 1134, Ordericus relates how the Welsh, exasperated by the oppressions of the English, seized upon and burnt a Castle of Pagan fitz John called Cans, and slaughtered every inmate, male and female. (fn. Ordericus, 900, A. Dugdale makes the Cans of Ordericus to be Caus, and the two letters involved in the question have been constantly changed by transcribers. A Border Castle is doubtless spoken of, but I cannot suggest what Pagan fitz John may have had to do with that of Caus.) (Eyton)

Unidentified castle mentioned c.1134. Said to belong to Payn fitz John; if so, almost certainly not Caus. (Hogg and King)

Comments

Possibly another castle in the area of Caus. Paul Remfry suggests Cymaron Castle, Radnorshire. However it may well be that Payn had seized Caus at this time (the wikipedia entry for Pain fitzJohn (accessed 5-10-2013) states he held Caus (citing Chibnall, Empress Matilda p. 77)) while he was royal justice and, possibly, sheriff of Shropshire and it may well be the Ordericus Vitalis' Cans was Caus castle. However it is also possible Chibnall's reference to fitz John as lord of Caus may just be a reference to Ordercius with an assumption the castle referred to is Caus.
Gatehouse is of the opinion that it is more likely that this is a reference to Caus than to any other site. Can be rejected as a lost castle site.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Paul Martin Remfry
Books
- Chibnall, Marjorie, 1991, The Empress Matilda: Queen Consort, Queen Mother and Lady of the English (Oxford: Blackwell) p. 77
  Jackson, M.J.,1988, Castles of Shropshire (Shrewsbury: Shropshire Libraries) p. 10
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 130
  Eyton, R.W., 1857, Antiquities of Shropshire (London) Vol. 5 p. 242 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Coplestone-Crow, B., 1995, 'Payn fitzJohn and Ludlow Castle' Shropshire History and Archaeology Vol. 70 p. 180
  Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1963, 'Early castles in Wales and the Marches: a preliminary list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 112 p. 77-124
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- le Prevost, A. (ed), 1855, Ordericus Vitalis, Historica Ecclesiastica Vol. 5 p. 43 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.

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