Fitz mound, Pimhill (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ448178
Latitude 52.75570° Longitude -2.81903°

Fitz mound, Pimhill has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

Description

A tumulus..destroyed c1901 when burnt layers and fragments of burnt bones and charcoal were found. It had diameters of 100ft and 48ft at base and top respectively and was about 11ft high (Phillips 1901).
The NE side has been almost completely destroyed, and it has been cut through from NE to SW, but it can still be recognised as having once been a single large circular mound. The maximum height is 3m. Location in manorial village close to stream strongly suggests motte rather than barrow (OS record card 1962).
Evaluated for MPP in 1990-1, Low score as one of 43 Motte castles (Horton Wendy B. 1990/91. MPP Evaluation File). (Shropshire HER)

Comments

Was a medium sized Domesday manor held by Picot de Sai, although somewhat away from the bulk of his 50 manors in South Shropshire centred on Clun. Manor held for one knight's fee in time of war, at Oswestry, in 1255 and certainly held by a sub-tenant for military service before this. In 1901 the term 'tumulus' was often used for any type of artificial mound and not exclusively for pre-historic burial mounds as it is generally used today. Fragments of burnt bone may indicate a cremation burial or a bonfire and feast at a building site (as a builders' rite). The description of the mound is more suggestive of a 'building platform' type motte designed to elevate a hall rather than a tower supporting motte.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 67859.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 01103.

Books
- Duckers, Peter and Anne, 2006, Castles of Shropshire (Stroud: Tempus) p. 75-6
  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. 25
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 434
  Eyton, R.W., 1860, Antiquities of Shropshire (London: John Russell Smith) Vol. 10 p. 144- (tenurial history) online copy
Periodical Articles
- 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
  Phillips, W., 1901, 'The Fire at Shifnal and the Earl of Shrewsbury, Anno 1591' Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 3 p. 286-7

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.

Data >	PastScape	County HER
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio