Cheshire Castles



The Normans built a line of defence from the Dee Estuary southwards to defend Cheshire from the Welsh. It ran roughly NW to SE and comprised at least eight castles starting with (1) Shotwick on the North side of the Dee, then (2) Chester Castle, (3) Dodleston, (4) Pulford, (5) Aldford, (5) Holt, (6) Shocklach, (7) Malpas and (8) Old Castle. The River Dee is nowadays one of the most regulated rivers in Europe, it supplies more water for public supply than the whole of the English Lake District and two-thirds of the river's water is abstracted before the River Dee reaches the weir at Chester. The natural flow of the River Dee during most summers is insufficient to sustain this rate of abstraction, so a series of reservoirs have been constructed to store excess water available in wintertime and release it back into the River Dee during drier months. This system of low-flow regulation was first used by Thomas Telford at the beginning of the 19th Century in order to guarantee a supply of water to the Ellesmere Canal. Telford constructed sluices at the outlet of Bala Lake to control the flow of the Dee downstream so that there was always sufficient water to supply the Canal where it started at Horseshoe Falls. However regulation is not simple - flood peaks from Corwen take five and a half hours to reach the Cheshire plain at Erbistock, and it can take up to two days for low-flow regulation releases (or previously, floods) from Bala Lake to reach Chester weir. This delay in water reaching the Chester weir from relases at Bala can have consequences, as unpredictable peak tides can overflow the weir bringing saltwater into the freshwater Chester-Farndon reach, leading to freshwater fish kills in that part of the river.

Prior to regulation the Dee south of Chester flooded frequently. Floods also extended into tributaries such as Pulford Brook. These floods and persistent waterlogging would have been a major impediment to travel and the river therfore became the logical choice for the line of a border. The Norman castles were gerally built on dry ground which lay on the English side of the border. Obviously, building a castle on land which could be cut-off from support and relief by flood-waters was not a very wise idea, and so the castles were mostly, but not exclusively, built near crossing points but on the "English" side. Some of the castles may even have been built on or near pre-Roman sites, where cross-river trade occurred or "taxes" were collected.

Shotwick


Shotwick Castle originally stood on the east bank of the River Dee and was accessible to shipping as well as being in vicinity of a ford across the river. It is not known when people first began to settle at this spot, although it is likely that even in prehistoric times, the ford was part of a route followed by men going into North Wales in search of the flints they were unable to find in Cheshire, or traders coming the other way with the same, or later with bronze. Some historians believe that the ‘wick’ refers to the creek which afforded anchorage for small craft, and proves Viking penetration, whilst others argue that the name derives from the small salt workings which were still there when Leland wrote his itinerary, in 1539, but have completely disappeared. A castle was established at Shotwick around 1093 by Hugh of Avranches, the Norman Earl of Chester. This early fortification was a simple earth and timber motte-and-bailey structure, sited on top of a steep escarpment overlooking the river, and protected on its north and south sides by water features that were filled at high tide. The motte was also surrounded by a flooded ditch and, judging by the shape of the mound, may have had a jetty on its western side.



Due to its location on a communications artery into North Wales, Shotwick became a frontier fortress. On his Welsh campaigns of 1156 and 1165, Henry II used the adjacent Shotwick to Flint ford as his access into Wales. Accordingly, at some point during the twelfth or early thirteenth centuries, the castle was rebuilt in stone. A rectangular stone keep, sited on top of the motte, was probably the first structure rebuilt but this was followed by a substantial pentagon shaped curtain wall that originally stood over 15 metres tall and was augmented by numerous towers. Shotwick is associated with the legend of the Lady Cave at Hilbre Island. Shotwick Park, being part of the estates of the earl of Chester, passed to the crown with the earldom in 1237, and in 1301 Edward I created his son, later to become Edward II, Earl of Chester. We find the Black Prince, son of Edward III, writing to the Chamberlain of Cheshire on June 26th, 1353:


 * "Make clean and prepare my houses of Shotwick where I intend to stay and have sport in the park".

By the fourteenth century its defensive requirements were superfluous and its grounds were enclosed into an extension of the deer park. The last recorded repairs were made to the castle in 1371 but the castle certainly remained in use for sometime after this as around the fifteenth century the surrounding grounds were remodelled as part of a formal garden scheme. Shotwick was acquired by the Wilbraham family in 1627 but by this time the castle was ruinous and stonework was being robbed-out to support local building projects. The diversion of the River Dee in 1737 led to the site becoming land-locked and hastened its decline - within a few decades all masonry had been removed. The castle site was purchased by Cheshire County Council in 1930. Some earthworks remain but now no stonework is visible above ground. Throughout the 18th Century the ford was in continual use, the last recorded crossing being in 1796.

Links

 * Gatehouse;
 * Castles, Forts, Battles;
 * THE ROYAL MANOR AND PARK OF SHOTWICK (1912);

Chester


Chester Castle is one of the few castles in England or Wales that has been in constant use since first erected. For almost 2,000 years - even before the castle was built, armies have used and fought over this location. At times it has housed a mint, a prison, courts and local government offices. The Roman fortress, Æthelflæd's (Alfred the Great's daughter) burh, the small earthwork and timber castle of the Normans, and the larger stone castle created by Ranulf de Blondeville and Henry III were successively built near to, if not directly upon one another.

The history of the city and that of the castle are entangled. Indeed, the name of the city of Chester means simply "castle" and was used almost interchangeably in mediaeval descriptions such as the following of Hadrian's Wall:


 * It had many towres or fortresses about a mile distant from another, which they call Castle steeds, and more with in little fensed townes tearmed in these daies Chesters, the plots or ground workes whereof are to be seene in some places foure square; also turrets standing betweene these, wherein souldiers being placed might discover the enimies and be ready to set upon them, wherein also the Areani might have their Stations, whom the foresaid Theodosius, after they were convicted of falshood, displaced and removed from their Stations.

Any castle, an particularly this castle is more than its stones, and the different layers of history can take some time to disentangle. If you visit, don't expect a grand ruin of a castle like Conwy. The surviving parts of Chester Castle are impressive, but Chester Castle is more to do with social history than being a frozen ruin of a bygone age.

Links

 * Chester Castle: a very detailed history on this website;
 * Gatehouse;
 * Castles, Forts, Battles;

Dodleston




While there is no evidence to date for Roman settlement in the immediate area of the site, the line of the Roman road from Chester to North Wales probably divided into two branches at about the centre of the present Eaton Park to the east of Dodleston, as indicated by field names called the "Strettons" (incorporating "Street"). One of these branches would appear to underlie the present road which enters Dodleston from Eaton via Aldford in the north east. This branch of the Roman road appears to have continued from Dodleston towards (Higher) Kinnerton, looping north around the presumably once impassable lowlying marshlands of Dodleston Moor. This road then probably ran westwards via Caergwrle through the Berwyns. The other road (as indicated by the field name "Pavement Hey") lay immediately north of, and running lengthways along, what is now called Main Road between Gorstella and Balderton. A causeway of oak trunks on which a cobble and clay surface had been placed was identified to the immediate south east of Balderton Bridge, with dendrochronological dating providing a thirteenthcentury date. At Balderton, it crossed the low-lying stream or valley which joins the River Dee. The causeway would appear to have continued towards Dodleston, and onwards to what was the site of Poulton Abbey. This causeway and bridge could well have been the bridge of ‘Baldert’ referred to in the 1170 entry in the Annales Cestrienses, where it is stated that Hugh de Kevelioc killed enough Welshmen to build a mound out of their heads at Boughton. It is not clear whether the original entry refers to Boughton or Broughton, but while local legends mention Boughton, Broughton does make more sense.



In 1066, the manor of Dodleston was held directly by the Mercian earl Edwin rather than by a sub-tenant, and thus presumably carried some considerable importance in west Cheshire during the first half of the eleventh century. Dodleston Castle is a Norman earthwork motte and bailey fortress, apparently founded by Osberne fitzTezzo. The base of the flat-topped motte is encased by a ditch with a counterscarp bank, while a bank and a wide wet ditch gives defence to the large square bailey. The dense cover of trees, make the site best viewed in winter. Around the outside of the castle site there may have been a third ring-ditch which can be seen quite plainly on LIDAR. The tithe maps give two of the fields between the outermost and inner ditch the name "The Ring". Parts pf both of these are now built upon, with the plots filling the space between the inner and outer ring-ditches.

It is situated on the Welsh side of the River Dee from where control could be kept of the marsh lands between the river and the Welsh foothills. At some time during the mid-twelfth century, Dodleston was held by the Boydel family, first by Helte, Helto or Hugh, de Boydel (1123), whom Ormerod claims to have been a direct descendant of Osbern fitzTezzo It later passed to the Redishes (Radyche). In 1401, King Henry IV (reigned 1399-1413) called upon the castles in the March, including Dodleston, to prepare for action against Owain Glyndwr (c.1350-c.1415). Indeed, there is a record of devastation west of the Dee following Welsh risings in August 1403, when Dodleston was reportedly destroyed. Within the site was erected a later mansion which was the property of the Manleys of Lache. This was probably one of the several HQ's of Sir William Brereton during the siege of Chester and is now taken down. Rachel Swallow suggests this may be the site of the original Saxon moot (meeting point) for the "Hundred of Duddeston" although by 1086 it was recorded as in "Ati's Cross Hundred".

St Mary's church lies within what was probably and outer ring ditch, which is quite clearly visible on the LIDAR mapping and in part follows the line of the modern road to the west and south. A church has been on this site, adjacent to a former motte and bailey castle, since at least medieval times but only the base of its tower, which dates from the early 16th century, remains. The remainder of the church was rebuilt in 1870 in Perpendicular style by the Chester architect John Douglas. ‘The Ring’ at the focus of a number of road ways is suggestive of a prehistoric enclosure, possibly for assembly and religious purposes.

Links

 * Gatehouse;
 * Palimpsest of Border Power: The Archaeological Survey of Dodleston Castle, Cheshire;

Pulford


Pulford Castle is a small motte and bailey guarding the crossing of Pulford Brook, which forms the border between England and Wales (see: Poulton and Aldford), and adjacent to the Wrexham–Chester road. The manor belonged to the Canons of St Werburgh and to Hugh Fitz Osbern in 1086. Later the Ormesbees and the Pulfords held it between them. C.1245 the Ormesbees granted their share of the manor and castle to the Pulfords. In 1313, a jury of the Chester County Courts found that the lord of Little Caldy (Wirral) held that manor by the service of "palisading" (i.e. repairing the wooden defences) of Robert de Pulford's castle at Pulford. In 1403 King Henry IV ordered Sir Thomas le Grosvenor to hold Pulford castle and guard his estates against the revolt of Owain Glyndwr. Only the earthworks remain, comprising a mound with a strong encircling earthwork, except on the south where the defence is the Pulford brook.

Interestingly, there was possibly also a castle at Poulton. The first unambiguous cartographic record of the Poulton mound occurs on the 1875 OS map of Cheshire; a circular mound surrounded by a broadly triangular curved ditch is clearly delineated within a small wooded copse. Measurements taken from this map indicate that the mound measured c.16.7 m east-to-west. The historian of Wimpey, Valerie White, dates the issuing of a £474,000 contract to George Wimpey & Co for the construction of RAF Poulton to June 1942, with Ferguson stating that the runways were supporting flights from 31 March 1943. Given the proximity of the mound site to the landing strip, it is probable that the rapid construction of RAF Poulton was the most likely cause of the destruction of the mound; the mound was therefore probably extant until c.June 1942 to March 1943.

Links

 * Gatehouse;
 * POULTON Castle: Lost and found again;

Aldford


Alford is not directly mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086. It was part of the scattered holding of Bigot de Loges. Aldford Castle (known locally as "Blobb Hill") is a late 11th or early 12th century earthwork motte and bailey fortress, founded by Richard de Aldford. The earthworks of the fortification are strategically situated between the confluence of the River Dee and Alford Brook. The location is strategic in terms of the river, and defended by water courses on all sides but the south. In addition, it marks the line of the Roman road – Watling Street – which heads south from Chester and crosses the Dee at the confluence of the Dee and Aldford Brook north of the castle (the ‘Old Ford’ = Aldford). In 1209 Sir John Ardene succeeded to estate and the manor remained in the Arderne family until 1464, when it passed to Stanleys by marriage until 1503. For the next two centuries it was rented and leased. The castle fell into decay and much of stone was robbed. By end of C18 it had passed to Grosvenor family in whose estate it remains. Both the Motte and bailey were planted with trees and, with the water-filled bailey ditch, they formed a parkland. The large motte is encased by a wide wet ditch and stands within the remaining wide ramparts and wet ditches of a rectangular bailey. Excavations on the flat-top motte found the stone foundations of what was possibly a shell keep, flanked by a D-shaped tower.

Links

 * Gatehouse;

Holt


Holt Castle is a late 13th century stone enclosure and bailey fortress, founded by John de Warenne, earl of Surrey. Built as the administrative centre of the district of Iâl, it replaced the abandoned hill-top site of Castell Dinas Bran. Rather than rebuild Dinas Brân, De Warenne choose instead to build a new castle at Holt on the Flintshire, Cheshire border and Dinas Brân continued till the present day a picturesque and romantic ruin. Thomas Pennant, in his book Tours in Wales (1874), (citing a MS communicated by the Reverend Mr Price, Keeper of the Bodleian Library), states that the nephews of Defydd ap Gruffydd were ‘drowned in the River Dee’ at Holt Bridge by their guardians, John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, and Roger Mortimer the younger, on a journey from Chester to Dinas Brân: Madog ap Gruffudd of Dinas Brân, Llangollen, having died four years earlier, in 1277, leaving the two young sons with no trustees. Mortimer was appointed by King Edward I to be their guardian. This, and perhaps a double drowning recorded on graves at Farndon (St Chad's) churchyard, possibly led to various legends about the 'Bridge of Screams'.

Master James of St George, Edward I’s castle builder, was probably involved in its design. Edward, the Black Prince, temporarily took possession of the castle in the 14th century following the death of John de Warenne in 1347. Richard II seized the castle in 1397 and made it his own private treasure house. The castle held out for the Crown during the uprising of Owain Glyndŵr against Henry IV. Sir William Stanley made the castle his home in 1484 after backing Richard III as king and then changed sides a year later at the Battle of Bosworth helping Henry VII defeat Richard III. Henry VII visited the castle in 1495 following the arrest of Sir William Stanley for treason. William Brereton, the steward of Bromfield and Yale who lived at Holt Castle during the reign of Henry VIII, was falsely accused of having an affair with the king’s second wife, Ann Boleyn. Brereton was tried and beheaded. The castle was a royalist stronghold during the Civil War and withstood an eleven month siege in 1646-7 until the garrison surrendered when they realized supporting Charles I was a lost cause.

The Edwardian castle has been almost completely dismantled and only thin internal walls remain, built into a pentagon shaped boss of sandstone. The most prominent feature, is a doorway in a substantial fragment of wall, it leads to a flight of steps that gave access to the inner court. After Civil War slighting, all the remaining stonework in the surrounding curtain wall, the flanking angle towers, a detached barbican tower and the outer bailey, were rafted down the River Dee and used in the construction of the original Eaton Hall, founded by Thomas Grosvenor.

Links

 * Gatehouse;
 * Wrexham County Borough Museum: information site;

Shocklach


Shocklach (Shotlack) was a Welsh frontier fortress forming an important link in the chain of Cheshire castles between Alford and Malpas. Lord Dudley claimed the right in 15 Hen VII to maintain this castle fortified, ditched and crenellated. The earthworks were very strong, occupying an important pass where the present road to Chester crosses a deep ravine. On the west side of the road is a very early circular mound 20' high, on the top of which the Normans placed their keep. On the E side of the road is another raised kite-shaped platform also of ancient formation. The motte, which lies in the loop of the stream offering defence to the N and W, is protected by a partly waterlogged/silted ditch on its SW, S and E sides, beyond which is an outer bank. There is no evidence of a bailey immediately attached to this motte. However, 30m to the E lies a D-shaped moated enclosure measuring 54m W-E and surrounded on all sides except the S by a dry ditch. A causeway crosses the ditch and gives access to the platform at the NE. No vestiges of masonry now remain and it is unclear whether any was actually built. The site lies within an area containing an important concentration of medieval monuments. These monuments include two shrunken medieval hamlets, a defended green lane, a Norman chapel, well preserved ridge and furrow, a ford across the River Dee, and a complex of communally owned watermeadows.

St Edith's Church, Shocklach, stands at the end of an isolated lane running toward the River Dee about 1 mile (2 km) to the north of the village of Shocklach. It is closer to the castle than the village. It is a small Norman church, and is one of the oldest ecclesiastical buildings in Cheshire. The church was built probably about 1150 by Thomas de Shocklach. As the church is dedicated to Saint Edith of Wilton, an Anglo-Saxon saint, it is thought that an earlier church may have stood on the site. Edith was an English nun, a daughter of Edgar the Peaceful, of Edgar's Field fame (r. 943–975). She was born between 961 and 964 and died on 16 September in a year between 984 and 987There is a local legend that there was a flood and most of the village of Shocklach was flooded underwater. People headed inside the church because they thought they would be safe. But the water still came in, and drowned them all.

Links

 * Gatehouse;
 * Castles, Forts, Battles;

Malpas


The Castle of Malpas has long been destroyed, but the earthworks of Malpas Castle are still to be found to the north of St. Oswald's Church. The monument at Malpas comprises the remnants of a medieval castle surviving as a truncated earthwork cone, situated at a strategic position on a spur of the Broxton Hills overlooking the town and much of the surrounding countryside. The site was originally home to the Barons of Malpas. The motte lies N of St Oswald's Church, the graveyard of which extends to the S and W sides of the motte. A bailey was probably originally attached to the S side of the motte, but is now indistinct and its site has been considerably disturbed by construction of the church and burials in the churchyard.

The church of Saint Oswald was built in the second half of the 14th century on the site of an earlier church, although there are no structural remains of that building. A stone from the previous church was incorporated above the chancel door of Trinity Church in Princeton, New Jersey, to which the influential Stockton family had emigrated from Malpas. The church was largely rebuilt above the cill level with the addition of a clerestory in the late 15th century. In about 1886 the Chester architect John Douglas carried out a restoration, which included removal of the box pews and plaster from its interior

Links

 * Gatehouse;
 * Castles, Forts, Battles;

Oldcastle


Situated on a spur overlooking the deep valley of the Wych Brook. In 1882, Ormerod noted a number of small hills & on the summit of one were indications of the works of an ancient fortress. In July 1957, the felling of trees revealed an impressive earthwork, consisting of a small platform on the crest of the spur c.100ft x 36ft, with well-defined ditch systems along each end. At the SE end, overlooking the river are 3 short transverse ditches, each c.60ft long x 40ft wide & 16ft deep. At the NW end, the neck of the spur is cut by 2 ditches, the inner one being 60-70ft wide. This inner ditch was sectioned by a trench 14ft long x 3ft wide. The fill was clean, undifferentiated clay, 4.5ft deep to the bottom of the ditch. No finds. Trenching on the platform produced no finds, but there were indications of a layer of stone on the natural clay & a possible hearth. Possibly an outpost to the castle at Malpas.

The Wych Brook was formerly known as the River Elfe or Elf. The origin of the name "Elfe" is in this case unknown, though the name "Wych" is thought to derive from saline springs in the area. There were formerly a number of natural salt springs or 'brine pits' near the river bank at Higher Wych and Lower Wych, which from medieval times were used as a water source for commercial salt production. It has been speculated that the river name Elfe is based on the Welsh language root "hal-", halen, "salt" (similar to "halide"). The river is a habitat for a variety of fish including brown trout, common dace, the gudgeon Gobio gobio, stone loach and common minnow. There is an unusual isolated population of dormice in the Wych Valley.

Links

 * Gatehouse;
 * Wych Valley guide;

Beeston Castle


Beeston Castle is one of the most dramatic ruins in the English landscape. Built by Ranulf de Blondeville, Earl of Chester, in the 1220s, the castle incorporates the banks and ditches of an Iron Age hillfort. Henry III seized the castle in 1237 and it remained in royal ownership until the 16th century. In the Civil War it withstood a long siege in 1644–5, before being surrendered by the Royalists and partially demolished. Archaeological excavation demonstrated that beneath the medieval outer gatehouse and curtain wall were a series of earthwork defences dating to the later Bronze Age and the Iron Age (c 900 BC–AD 40). The first later Bronze Age fortification comprised a simple bank at the base of the crag, probably with a wooden palisade. Excavated objects such as moulds and crucibles for smelting indicate that Beeston was a major metalworking centre. Among the most significant finds are two copper-alloy socketed axes that had seemingly been deliberately buried beneath the earthwork bank. They almost certainly represent a votive offering, or were used for ritual purposes.

Related Pages

 * Chester Castle;
 * Beeston Castle;

Sources and Links

 * List of castles in Cheshire: on Wikipedia;