Middlehope (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SO49878863
Latitude 52.49338° Longitude -2.73985°

Middlehope has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

Description

Motte within circular bailey, damaged by ploughing and cut by road. Motte 13m in diameter and 1m high inside 50m bailey. Bailey ditch best preserved on South-10m wide and 1.3m deep, turned outwards for ?original entrance on E side. Inner bank on NW side 3m wide, 0.5m high and outer bank on SW 6m wide and 1.3m high. 13m diameter circular mound 0.7m high to t North- a building? (OS record card 1973).
Site in permanent pasture. The motte is extremely small and low and appears almost useless if it is in its original state. The bailey bank on the NE does not appear to be complete or to line up with the bailey ditch on the S and SE. This is interpreted by the OS as an entrance, but an alternative interpretation would be that the castle was never completed (Burrow Ian. 1976-Aug-19. Visit Notes).
The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a motte and bailey castle, occupying an elevated position in Hope Dale. A very small circular motte about 13m in diameter and standing 0.7m high is surrounded by an oval bailey 44m by 50m (maximum dimensions), which is defined by continuous sections of bank and ditch with a possible entrance causeway through the north eastern part of the circuit. In 1976 the then County Archaeological Officer, Ian Burrow, considered that the cstle was unfinished as it could not have functioned effectively in its current state. Field inspection supports this interpretation. The monument is bisected by a lane within a deep cutting (Reid Malcolm L. 1999-Sep-06. MPP Non-Scheduling Alternative Action Report). (Shropshire HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 108875.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 00167.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- CastleUK.net
Books
- Duckers, Peter and Anne, 2006, Castles of Shropshire (Stroud: Tempus) p. 112, 113
  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. 38
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 424 (Diddlebury No. 2)
  Wall (after Downham), 1908, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Shropshire Vol. 1 p. 394
  Eyton, R.W., 1857, Antiquities of Shropshire (London: John Russell Smith) Vol. 5 p. 51-55 (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

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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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