Home | Books | Links
| Fortifications and Castles | Other
Information | Help | Downloads
| Author Information | Contact
Redcastle
Also known as, or recorded in historical
documents as; Red Castle; Rubree; Radeclif; Redcliffe; Redde; Castle Rous; Hawkstone
In the civil parish of Weston Under Redcastle.
In the historic county of Shropshire (Modern Authority of Shropshire, 1974 county of Shropshire).
Begun 1227 for Henry de Audley, Sheriff of Shropshire and Staffordshire with romantic additions of C18. Regularly coursed and dressed red sandstone; now roofless. Situated on 2 narrow ridges of rock with a deep ravine between, separated into upper and lower wards by a deep rock-cut ditch running at right-angles across ravine. Apart from the Great Tower and a smaller turret at north-east corner, only fragments of towers and curtain wall survive. Great Tower: still stands to considerable height: circular plan with chamfered plinth to bottom and rectangular slits to tower. Deep well beneath, hollowed out of sandstone as is bottom part of tower, approached by adit created c.1780. The height of the tower was increased by either Sir Rowland or Sir Richard Hill in late C18 to make it a more conspicuous object in the view from Grotto Hill, but it has again been reduced and what now survives (March 1986) appears to be largely medieval work. North-east tower: only a fragment of small circular tower survives. 2 similar towers formerly guarded south-east and south- west angles of lower ward but the former has now almost completely disappeared above ground and the latter is very fragmentary. Traces of curtain wall on ridges to east and west with more substantial fragment spanning ditch between upper and lower wards on west. The site is very overgrown and apparently has never been systematically investigated, making it difficult to distinguish between medieval work and C18 'romantic' additions. The natural defences are very impressive, probably never needing much strengthening except on south, and can be compared with those at Heighley Castle (Staffs), also begun by Henry de Audley. Licence to crenellate granted to Henry de Audley in 1227.
This site has been described as a;
Masonry Castle.
The confidence
that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Masonry ruins/remnants remains.
A Royal licence
to crenellate was
granted in 1227 Aug 17.
This site is a scheduled
monument protected by law.
This site is a
Grade 2 listed
building protected by law*. (Images
of England number 428343)
The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SJ57172946
PastScape number;
70617
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2001 (2edn), The Castles and Moated Mansions of Shropshire (Malvern) p66-7
Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses Vol2 (Cambridge) p476
Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p219 [slight]
Jackson, M.J.,1988, Castles of Shropshire (Shrewsbury: Shropshire Libraries) p46-8 [plan]
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p428
Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p283
Curtis, R.A., 1972 (2edn), Monumental Follies p154-6
Pevsner, N., 1958, The Buildings of England: Shropshire (London, Penguin) p146
Oman, Charles W.C., 1926, Castles (1978 edn Beetham House: New York) p134
Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
Wall [after Downham], 1908, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Shropshire Vol1 p410
Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p149-50
Acton, F. Stackhouse, 1868, The Castles and Old Mansions of Shropshire (Shrewsbury) p19
Edwards, E., 1858, Notes on the Castellated Structures of Shropshire p30-1
(Hill), n.d., Some Account of the Antiquities of Hawkstone (Shrewsbury) p15-54
Journal Articles
- Arrol, A. and Snell, A., 1981, ‘Hawkstone Park and the Red Castle' Archaeological Journal Vol138 p43-4
Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1967, 'Masonry castles in Wales and the Marches: a list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol116 p71-132
Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1963, 'Early castles in Wales and the Marches: a preliminary list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol112 p77-124
1958 July 3, Country Life p20-1
Phillips, 1896, Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol2 p126-9
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents
- This section is far from complete and the secondary
sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Calendar of Patent Rolls (1225-32) p138
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
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 |
The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English
Heritage and other individuals and organisations. |
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. |
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 with
this site. |
*The listed building
may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site
of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.
|
¤¤¤¤¤
