Shocklach Oldcastle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Shocklatch; Shockleach; Shockleach; Castletown Bridge

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ433508
Latitude 53.05133° Longitude -2.84657°

Shocklach Oldcastle has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

A well preserved motte, situated on the edge of a steep ravine. The mound rises 4.0 m above the bottom of the ditch, which has a counterscarp bank. (PastScape)

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 W 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. No vestiges of masonry now remain. (PastScape–ref. Clark)

There is no real reason to think the Norman castle ever had masonry, despite Clark's comment.

The Shocklach 'moat' and Shocklach Oldcastle are recorded on the same record in the PastScape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1012620, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 13422
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 68887.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 1794/1.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- CastleUK.net
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. 113
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Lancashire and Cheshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 21
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 17 (slight)
  Cullen, P.W. and Hordern, R., 1986, Castles of Cheshire (Crossbow Books) p. 10
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 68
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 2 p. 179-80 online copy
  Clark, G.T., 1884, Mediaeval Military Architecture in England (Wyman and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 179 online copy
  Ormerod, G., 1882 (2edn), History of the County Palatine and city of Chester (London) Vol. 2 p. 689
  Ormerod, G., 1819, History of the County Palatine and city of Chester (London) Vol. 2 p. 376-9 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Swallow, Rachel, 2013/14, 'Two for one: The archaeological survey of Shocklach Castle, Cheshire' Cheshire History Vol. 53 p. 18-44
  Williams, S.R., 1983, 'Church Shocklach. Castletown: the “moated” site' Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin Vol. 9 p. 59-61
  Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1963, 'Early castles in Wales and the Marches: a preliminary list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 112 p. 77-124
  Clark, G.T., 1889, 'Contribution towards a complete list of moated mounds or burhs' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 46 p. 197-217 esp. 202 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk North West Register 2016 (London: Historic England) p. 8 online copy
  Historic England, 2015, Heritage at Risk North West Register 2015 (London: Historic England) p. 10 online copy
  English Heritage, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 North West (London: English Heritage) p. 11 online copy
  English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 North West (London: English Heritage) p. 10 online copy
  English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 North West (London: English Heritage) p. 26 online copy

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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.
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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.

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