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Whittington Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Castle of Roger de Powis; White Tower; Witinton

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ32563109
Latitude 52.8719° Longitude -3.0029°

Whittington Castle has been described as a certain Timber Castle, and also as a certain Masonry Castle.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Earlier medieval motte and bailey castle surviving as an earthwork first built in 1138 and altered in 1221 with the construction of a stone keep, curtain walls, towers and a gatehouse which was restored in the late C18. A moat, fishpond and other ditches survive. A mound, sometimes suggested as an early motte, survives to a height of 4.7m and is 38m north to south by 34m transversely. This is now considered to be an early prospect mound for the formal gardens. However, I consider it to be a truncated remnant of a raised bailey platform (the motte being under the keep) possible retained as a prospect mound (The mound is D shaped - the flat edge facing the motte.). Two towers still remain. The castle was decayed but nearly entire when surveyed in 1545, but later fell into ruin and was robbed for its materials. In the late C18, the site was laid out as a garden, with pebble-laid paths and brick structures. A moat, fishpond and other ditches survive. The castle has been excavated by R. A. Hartley. Licence to crenellate granted to Fulk Fitz Warine in 1221, but castle quite able to withstand siege by welsh in 1223, suggesting stonework completed by that date. A licence for a market issued also in 1221 shortly before licence to crenellate. The tenurial history prior to this had been complex and the licence to crenellate is probably to do with establishing Warine's claim to the castle.

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1221 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Links to mapping and other online resources
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Sources of information, references and further reading

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.
The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English Heritage, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
I do not receive any income from this site and I fund it myself. The information within this site is provided freely by me for educational purposes only.
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.
Please help me to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting me if you see errors or if you can add information.
I do acknowledge the help I get.
*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.
This record last updated on Friday, May 3, 2013
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