Leominster Town Defences (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

In the civil parish of Leominster.
In the historic county of Herefordshire.
Modern Authority of Herefordshire.
1974 county of Hereford and Worcester.
Medieval County of Herefordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO49625882
Latitude 52.22590° Longitude -2.73886°

Leominster Town Defences has been described as a probable Urban Defence.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Leominster Town Ditch. Etnam St, Dishley St, and South St, were required to clear out the wet ditch in C17; This suggested a line behind Etnam St (S side) Burgage plots SO49625882 - SO49965887. (S of Westbury St, W of Dishley St, E of Townsend House, Curtilage, W of Cranes Lane). Salvage recording during construction of Kwik Save at Ryelands Rd revealed a large ditch running roughly E - W interpreted as the Medieval Town Ditch. (Herefordshire SMR)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1402 July 23 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Comments

The 'good men' of Leomynstre were granted licence 'to fortify the town with walls, pales and ditches, for defence against the Welsh rebels, and to compel all the men of the town to contribute to the expense according to their means' in 1402, in response to Owain Glendower's revolt. Probably little action taken, since taking taxes from people who are making ready to flee is not easy. However, the existing town ditch may have been repaired or strengthened at this time.

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 8904; 21836; 21947; 21951; 21952; 21953.

Books
- Buteux, V., 1994, Central Marches Historic Town Survey, a personal observation (Central Marches Historic Town Survey)
  Price, John, 1795, An Historical and Topographical Account of Leominster
Periodical Articles
- Hillaby, Joe, 2004, 'The Origins and Evolution of the Medieval Ground Plan of Leominster Borough' Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club Vol. 52 p. 11-56
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), 1905, Calendar of Patent Rolls Henry IV (1401-05) Vol. 2 p. 139 online copy
  - Also see the Gatehouse murage pages for full details of murage grants, petitions and other such.

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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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