Leebotwood Castle Hill (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Woolstaston; Lebotwood

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SO46789906
Latitude 52.58669° Longitude -2.78694°

Leebotwood Castle Hill has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are earthwork remains.

Description

hought to be an artificial motte, with a reference of 1172 (BM Harleian MS 3868 f 11) to its abandonment (VCH 1908; Renn 1968).
Described as a natural mound, but probably the site of a manor house (VCH 1968).
Accepted as a motte by Hogg and King, but finally rejected by them and considered to be only a natural mound, the 1172 reference having been found to apply to the place only, with no mention of a castle (Hogg and King 1963; 1970).
A natural mound rising 5.0 m above the surrounding ground. There are no signs of a building on the mound (F1 DJC 14-DEC-72). (PastScape)

Comments

King writes this is a glacial formation and not a castle. Jackson also dismisses it as a castle site but suggests it is a possible medieval house site. Salter called in a natural mound, with the implication of Norman use, in the 1st edition of his book but does not mention it at all in the 2nd.
The site has been called 'Castle Hill' since at least the early C19. How did this name arise? Was it a field belonging to the local manor? Was it the site where locals played 'King of the Castle'?

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 109116.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 00228.

Books
- Duckers, Peter and Anne, 2006, Castles of Shropshire (Stroud: Tempus) p. 97
  Salter, Mike, 1988, The Castles and Moated Mansions of Shropshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 73 (slight)
  Jackson, M.J.,1988, Castles of Shropshire (Shrewsbury: Shropshire Libraries) p. 70 (reject)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 435 (reject)
  Renn, D.F., 1968, Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 222 (not mentioned in 2nd edition of 1973)
  Gaydon, A.T. (ed), 1968, VCH Shropshire Vol. 8 p. 171
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Wall (after Downham), 1908, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Shropshire Vol. 1 p. 388-9
  Cobbold, E.S., 1904, in Campbell-Hyslop and Cobbold (eds), Church Stretton: Some Results of Local Scientific Research (Shrewsbury) Vol. 3 p. 82-3
  Anderson, J.C., 1864 (2edn 1972), Shropshire, Its Early History and Antiquities p. 225 online copy
  Eyton, R.W., 1858, Antiquities of Shropshire (London: John Russell Smith) Vol. 6 p. 244- (tenurial history) online copy
  Hartshorne, C.H., 1841, Salopia Antiqua (London) p. 86 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1970, 'Castles in Wales and the Marches (Additions and corrections to lists published in 1963 and 1967)' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 119 p. 119-124 (reject)
  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
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- BM Harleian MS 3868 f 11

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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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