Colstey Castle Field (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Clun.
In the historic county of Shropshire.
Modern Authority of Shropshire.
1974 county of Shropshire.
Medieval County of Shropshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO30348410
Latitude 52.45043° Longitude -3.02555°

Colstey Castle Field has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

Description

A much spread mound discernible at SO 30348410 (Annotated Record Map - A J Bird 1966).
The position quoted above falls on a NW facing slope, now afforested. No trace of any mound was seen. The field adjoining to the N is known as "Castle Field", but the reason for this name was not ascertained (F1 ASP 14-DEC-73).
Site of a mound, possibly a motte, destroyed between 1966-73, situated north of Colstey Farm in Castle Field (Jackson 1988). (PastScape)

Comments

Seemingly isolated from medieval settlement, although this was an area of dispersed homestead some held by tenants owing military service. Collsty, as a township in the parish of Clun, is listed as paying a considerable great tithe to Wenlock Priory at the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII (Eyton) so it entirely possible this lost mound was associated with a township, possibly one containing the house of a military tenant (a sergeant rather than a knight), although there is no evidence for this (The records for Castle-guard service at Clun Castle are not complete and, therefore, do not exclude such a possibility although if so then the service must have been commuted to a money payment quite early.).
Does stand by a road through a steep sided valley in a position that might be considered tactical although it is a steep sloped site arguably not convenient for occupation.
However, it is also possibly that this lost mound was something other than a motte which happened to be in a field with a castle name (representing some tenurial relationship with Clun Castle) and that Collsty was 300m SW where Colstey is now. Gatehouse considers the second explanation more likely, mainly on the grounds of the unsuitability of the site of the supposed mound as a residence which, to be made suitable for a residence, would have had some levelling take place and this should have survived as a visible earthwork.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 107369.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 03103.

Books
- Duckers, Peter and Anne, 2006, Castles of Shropshire (Stroud: Tempus) p. 66
  Salter, Mike, 2001 (2edn), The Castles and Moated Mansions of Shropshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 87 (slight)
  Jackson, M.J.,1988, Castles of Shropshire (Shrewsbury: Shropshire Libraries) p. 11
  Eyton, R.W., 1860, Antiquities of Shropshire (London: John Russell Smith) Vol. 11 p. 241 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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