Castles in Shropshire

As the use of castles developed and the keep progressed from a purely defensive stronghold to a more domestic and residential structure, greater defensive emphasis was placed on the enclosing curtain wall. With this progression came the need to increase and strengthen the defence along this boundary wall. This involved heightening the defensive power of the castle entrance and providing towers along the curtain wall.

The Curtain Wall

The curtain wall is the stone equivalent of a wooden palisade, and enclosed the outside of the castle. As this was the first line of defence, the walls were made very thick for added protection. The thickness of a curtain wall can be seen particularly well at Ludlow Castle, and measurements at Whittington have shown its curtain wall to be two metres thick. The curtain wall also had battlements or crenellations to further enhance the defensive power of the castle. From these and the wall-walk, defenders could fire arrows and prevent attackers from scaling the walls. 

Mural Towers

A mural tower is a tower built into the curtain wall of the castle. This offered increased strength to the perimeter defences. They are found in a variety of shapes, including square, rectangular, polygonal, round and D-shaped. 

Like the development of keep design, mural towers began life as square or rectangular structures and were used until the end of the 12^th century.

As castle design progressed in the 13^th and 14^th centuries, polygonal, round, and D-shaped towers were introduced. These had many defensive advantages over square and rectangular ones. They proved an advantage to defenders of the castle by improving their field of fire and eliminating areas of dead ground where attackers could work undetected. In addition, round and D-shaped towers were less vulnerable to undermining and were better at deflecting arrows and other missiles, in much the same way as round keeps were. By flanking sections of wall, each pair of neighbouring tower could cover entire sections of wall, thus reducing the risk of attackers scaling the walls. These improvements in castle design seem to be product of the experiences of Crusader Knights' in the Holy Land and the Byzantine where similar ideas had been employed. These Knights, therefore, utilised these new designs for their own castles in Britain.

In Shropshire, the mural tower was regularly employed in castle design. 

The four square towers of Ludlow Castle seen in the print above, were erected in the late 11^th century along with the curtain wall, and are an early example of mural tower design. However, these were designed for defence from the wall-walks as they did not contain arrow slits, and as such do not function like the mural towers of the 13^th century, where the archers would have operated from the arrow slits in the mural tower below the level of the wall-walk.

Round towers were constructed at Shrawardine Castle, although the foundations are the only visible remains today. These towers are comparable to those built at Whittington by Fulk Fitz Warine in the 13^th century in order to fortify it against the welsh.

D-shaped towers exist at Alberbury and date from 1223 when the bailey wall was added. By the 13^th century, Caus Castle was one of the best defensive sites along the Welsh Marches. The building work of 1263 by Thomas Corbet, and funded by Henry II with a grant of 50 marks, included adding D-shaped towers to the curtain wall of 1198. Although this site is very over grown two of these towers do survive.

There is also a D-shaped tower at Holdgate. This tower was originally built in the 13^th century, but was refaced in the 19^th century. Consequently, it is only the lower level of stone work that represents the original structure. 

The Entrance to the Castle

There are three basic types of entrance to a castle: an entrance through the curtain wall; a mural tower with an entrance passage (a gatehouse or gatetower); and the more sophisticated gatehouse with twin towers which developed in the 13^th century. In addition to these different types of castles entrance, there is also a further entrance structure called a barbican. A barbican is an outer defence placed in front of the main entrance.

Shropshire has a number of these different types of castle entrance.

The D-shaped Mortimer's Tower built between 1300 and 1320 at Ludlow Castle is an example of a gateway through a mural tower. The evidence of its gatehouse function can still be seen by the blocked entrance, murder holes and portcullis grooves. It is thought this gatehouse controlled the rear exit from the castle down to Dinham bridge and the most direct route to Wigmore and Wales. Interestingly, Richard Duke of York (1411-60) and his son Edward (1442-83), later King Edward IV are thought to have escaped through this gateway on 12th October 1459 following the rout of their forces by the Lancastrains at Ludford. This tower was later converted into living quarters notable by the fireplace on ground floor level and the ornate windows which can be seen in the photograph opposite.

At Whittington, a more sophisticated gatehouse was constructed by placing two flanking D-shaped towers next to each other to create a passageway. Although this structure can still be seen today, it is the product of much subsequent restoration.

The late 13th century gatehouse of Castle Bryn Amlwg also provides an interesting example of castle gatehouse design. It is particularly special as its plan is similar to that of some of the finest castles known from this period, and excavations have uncovered two distinct phases of gatehouse construction. The first was a gateway formed out of two flanking D-shaped towers built into the curtain wall. The second, a more sophisticated version with chambers placed behind the towers to extend the entrance passage. There is an interesting theory surrounding the construction of the first gatehouse at Castle Bryn Amlwg. It is suggested that the gatehouse was built by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in the years following the Treaty of Montegomery in 1267. At this time the Welsh prince was in a powerful position around the area that bordered the lordship of Clun. There is, however, other lines of thought which suggest a slightly later date which coincides with the seizure of the castle by Roger Mortimer in 1276 and the overthrow of Llywelyn in the Welsh war of 1282-3. It would be only natural, therefore, to strengthen the castle with a gatehouse whilst in English hands. 

Barbicans were also built in Shropshire. The outer bailey at Bridgnorth was furnished with a barbican by King John in 1211-12. This structure was found when the 1902 post office was built. There was also a barbican at Caus Castle. Indeed the value of the barbican for defence and security continued to be recognised through to the 17th century and instability of the Civil War years. At Shrewsbury Castle, for example, during the rebuilding of the postern gate in 1642-3, the gatehouse was provided with a barbican containing musket loops.