Amaston Heath Farm (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Alberbury With Cardeston.
In the historic county of Shropshire.
Modern Authority of Shropshire.
1974 county of Shropshire.
Medieval County of Shropshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ37901132
Latitude 52.69599° Longitude -2.92031°

Amaston Heath Farm has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The monument includes the remains of a ringwork and bailey castle and a sample of the earthwork remains of ridge and furrow ploughing within an open field system. It is protected within two areas. The ringwork is situated in a marshy, valley bottom position and is believed to have been the centre of the manor of Amaston, held as part of the barony of Montgomery. The manor was held in C13 in return for providing two soldiers for 40 days in times of war. The ringwork includes a low roughly circular platform with an external diameter of 45m bounded by an external scarp 2m high. A bank averaging 0.6m high around the rim of the platform gives the interior of the site, which is 24m in diameter, a slightly dished appearance. Around the south eastern quarter of the site, the remains of a surrounding ditch are visible for approximately 22m as a slight depression 5m wide and 0.3m deep. To the north west of the ringwork and separated from it by a modern farm access road is a bailey in which the domestic buildings associated with the castle would have been protected. The bailey survives as a low, roughly sub-rectangular, platform with an internal area of 36m north west to south east by 40m transversely. It is bounded around the south west, west and north sides by a well defined scarp 1.5m high. The junction of the ringwork and bailey, at the south eastern side of the bailey, has been modified by the approach road to Heath Farm which now forms the south east side of the bailey enclosure. There is no visible trace of the ditch surrounding the extant sides of the bailey but it will survive as a buried feature with an estimated width of 4m. Extending over a considerable area to the south and east of the ringwork and bailey are the well defined earthwork remains of the ridge and furrow ploughing of an open field system. This represents the field system belonging to the medieval hamlet of Amaston. In 1086 seven tenants were recorded in the hamlet but by 1379 this had fallen to only four. Amaston is believed to have remained a recognisable hamlet until its final desertion in the 1690s. A sample of the ridge and furrow adjacent to the ringwork is included within the scheduling to preserve the stratigraphic relationship between the ringwork and the field system. (EH scheduling report 1995)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1013485, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 19211
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 66512.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 01084.

Books
- Duckers, Peter and Anne, 2006, Castles of Shropshire (Stroud: Tempus) p. 81-2
  Salter, Mike, 2001 (2edn), The Castles and Moated Mansions of Shropshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 43
  Higham, R. and Barker, P., 1992, Timber Castles (Batsford) p. 207
  Jackson, M.J.,1988, Castles of Shropshire (Shrewsbury: Shropshire Libraries) p. 2
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 420
  Eyton, R.W., 1858, Antiquities of Shropshire (London) Vol. 7 p. 173-176, p. 190-191 online copy
Periodical Articles
- King, D.J.C. and Alcock, L., 1969, 'Ringworks in England and Wales' Château Gaillard Vol. 3 p. 90-127
  King, D.J.C. and Spurgeon, C.J., 1965, 'The mottes in the Vale of Montgomery' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 114 p. 82
  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
  Chitty, Lily, 1949, 'Subsidiary Castle Sites West of Shrewsbury' Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society Vol. 53 p. 83-90
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- English Heritage, 1995, Scheduling Papers (Revision, 20/11/1995)
  Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission, 1983, Scheduled Monument Report on SAM 14321

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.
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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.
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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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