Bury Bank, Stone (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Bury Bank; Berry Bank; Darlaston; King Woulhers castel; Wulferecester

In the civil parish of Stone Rural.
In the historic county of Staffordshire.
Modern Authority of Staffordshire.
1974 county of Staffordshire.
Medieval County of Staffordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ88213593
Latitude 52.91982° Longitude -2.17579°

Bury Bank, Stone has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Comments

King writes 'nothing known of castle mentioned by Harvey as existing in Shropshire, possibly in error for Stone in Staffordshire, which itself has no known castle site.'
It should be said of Stone in Staffordshire that close to the town is the large Iron Age hill fort of Bury Bank. This is said to have had early medieval reuse as a Royal Mansion of King Wlferus of the Mercians (657-676AD). This is a classic hillfort but has a large low mound within it (Called a conical hill in Shaw); this was probably a barrow (early Saxon rather than prehistoric) although excavation in 1860 did not find a burial (but did find bits of bones and ashes). The VCH suggests the mound may have been surmounted by a watch tower and suggests this as "a prototype of the Norman Keep". Staffordshire and Shropshire did share some administration during the medieval period (and Harvey does occasionally make errors in county location) and it is possible that the early Saxon Royal Manor may have remained in the memory as a castle. Called a Saxon castle by Shaw (Presumably Harvey's authority). Leland clearly describes Bury Bank as King Wulfhere's castle and that there are still large ditches and masonry to be seen. Locating this otherwise 'lost' castle at Bury Bank seems reasonable.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1008548, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 21566
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 75648.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 00022; 00601.

Books
- Jackson, M.J.,1988, Castles of Shropshire (Shrewsbury: Shropshire Libraries) p. 59 (ref. Harvey)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 435 (Shropshire as possible, ref. Harvey)
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Lynam, Charles, 1908, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm. (ed), VCH Staffordshire Vol. 1 p. 342-4 (plan) online copy
  Lewis, Samuel (ed), 1848, A Topographical Dictionary of England online transcription
  Shaw, Stebbing, 1798, The History and Antiquities of Staffordshire (J.Nichols abd Son) (Republished 1976 by EP Publishing) Vol. 1 p. 36
Periodical Articles
- Gunstone, A.J.H., 1965, 'An Archaeological Gazetteer of Staffordshire: Part 2' North Staffordshire Journal of Field Studies Vol. 5 p. 48
  Forde-Johnston, J.1963, 'The Hillforts of Staffordshire' and 'Bury Bank' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 120 p. 262-3, 289 online copy
  Chitty, Lily F., 1937, 'How did the hill-fort builders reach the Breiddin?: a tentative explanation' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 92 p. 145
  Clark, G.T., 1889, 'Contribution towards a complete list of moated mounds or burhs' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 46 p. 197-217 esp. 211 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 443
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 5 p. 20 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk West Midlands Register 2016 (London: Historic England) p. 34 (new entry) 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.

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.

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