Nantwich Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Castrum Wici Malbani

In the civil parish of Nantwich.
In the historic county of Cheshire.
Modern Authority of Cheshire.
1974 county of Cheshire.
Medieval County of Cheshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ65065229
Latitude 53.06515° Longitude -2.52155°

Nantwich Castle has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are no visible remains.

Description

During pipe laying two ditches of about C13 date were uncovered in 1978 and possibly the remains of a drawbridge. Roman pottery was also found. These defensive earthworks would appear to confirm this as the site of Nantwich castle. A further excavation in 1994-95 uncovered other features relating to the medieval castle. (PastScape)

Motte and Bailey Castle built by Hugh Lupus who then left it to 1 of his daughters. It is mentioned in documents from C13, C14 and C15. The site of the castle is preserved in the name of Castle Street and the curve in the north end of High St may echo edge of the site of the bailey. Excavations has found a number of ditches that may be part of the castle's defences. (Cheshire HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 72713.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 179/2.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
Books
- Grimsditch, Brian, Nevell, Michael and Nevell, Richard, 2012, Buckton Castle and the Castles of the North West England (University of Salford Archaeological Monograph 2) p. 110
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Lancashire and Cheshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 20
  David Jordan, David Haddon-Reece, and Alex Bayliss (eds), 1994, Radiocardon Dates from samples funded by English Heritage and dated before 1981 (London: English Heritage) p. 118 online copy
  Cullen, P.W. and Hordern, R., 1986, Castles of Cheshire (Crossbow Books) p. 12
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 69
  Ridgway, Maurice Hill, 1958, 'Medieval Castles' in Sylvester, D. and Nulty, G. (eds), The Historical Atlas of Cheshire (Cheshire Community Council) p. 24-5
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Hall, J., 1883, A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich p. 22
  Ormerod, G., 1882 (2edn), History of the County Palatine and city of Chester (London) Vol. 3 p. 421-2
  Ormerod, G., 1819, History of the County Palatine and city of Chester (London) Vol. 3 p. 217- (tenurial history) online copy
  Platt, J.W., 1818, The History of Nantwich p. 73
Periodical Articles
- 1986, Nantwich Museum News
  1981, Cambrian Archaeological Association, Programme for 1981 Summer Meeting p. 24
  McNeil-Sale, R., 1980-81, 'Nantwich: three years of excavations and observations' Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin Vol. 7 p. 30
  Williams, S.R., 1975, Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin Vol. 3 p. 52
  Clark, G.T., 1889, 'Contribution towards a complete list of moated mounds or burhs' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 46 p. 197-217 esp. 201 online copy

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 Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. 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.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely 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 to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

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