Meole Brace Tower (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Melesbracy

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ48681056
Latitude 52.69027° Longitude -2.76024°

Meole Brace Tower has been described as a probable Pele Tower.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Possible site of a manor house or castle of probable late Saxon to medieval date; foundations possibly relating to the site were discovered, but were subsequently covered up.
Eyton stated that at Meole Brace there was a fortified dwelling, a dilapidated tower, and other buildings, very poor, documented in an Inquest of 1273 in respect of the holdings of George, Baron Cantilupe. Time of Edward I (Eyton 1858; Eyton 1887)
There are further references to the castell in 1538 and in the reign of Charles II. Unlikely to be a motte, since it appears that no such erections were permitted within a six mile radius of Shrewsbury (Chitty 1949/50)
In the time of Archdeacon Butler intersecting foundations were discovered where the castle is marked, but that he had them covered at once.
A manor house stood near to the church until its demolition after the Conquest (Paddock 1958). (Shropshire HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 68008.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 00070.

Books
- Duckers, Peter and Anne, 2006, Castles of Shropshire (Stroud: Tempus) p. 111-12
  Salter, Mike, 2001 (2edn), The Castles and Moated Mansions of Shropshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 59
  Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 476
  Jackson, M.J.,1988, Castles of Shropshire (Shrewsbury: Shropshire Libraries) p. 38
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 434
  Paddock, C.A. (or E.A.?), 1958, Meole Brace through the Ages p. 4
  Blakeway, J.B. et al, 1897, History of Shrewsbury Hundred or Liberties p. 331-2
  Eyton, R.W., 1858, Antiquities of Shropshire (London: John Russell Smith) Vol. 6 p. 357 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1967, 'Masonry castles in Wales and the Marches: a list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 116 p. 71-132
  Chitty, Lily, 1949, 'Subsidiary Castle Sites West of Shrewsbury' Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society Vol. 53 p. 83-90
  1896, Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 8 p. 113-20
  Eyton, R.W., 1887, 'The castles of Shropshire' Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 10 p. 14
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1906, Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem Vol. 2 p. 19 No. 17 online copy

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.

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