Flint Town Defences (The Gatehouse Record)

Flint Town Defences

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Y Fflint; le flynt; le Caillou; le Chaylou

In the community of Flint.
In the historic county of Flintshire.
Modern authority of Flintshire.
Preserved county of Clwyd.

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ24447308
Latitude 53.25103° Longitude -3.13394°

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

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

Building of town defences in 1277 documented and ditch could be traced in part in 1912. MOW (1955) describes a double bank and ditch site has now been built over and destroyed. A section was excavated across the Medieval town defences in 1972 following the demolition of cottages along Swan Street and in advance of redevelopment of this area. The site lay between and at right-angles to Duke Street and the former Swan Street. Cuttings between 1 and 6m across were made by machine and hand across the inner bank and ditch. No Medieval objects were found though some of the contexts clearly belonged to the creation of the Edwardian town. The ditch was found to be 16m wide and 3m deep with sloping sides and a flattish bottom about 5m across. Its outer slope had been faced with a spread of hard-packed red-brown clay. The ditch had silted steadily throughout the Medieval period with no sign that it had ever been cleaned out (Miles, T J, 1996, 117-120). (Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust HER)

Comments

Slight remains of rectangular earthworks built 1277. These 'consisted of a double bank further protected by a flat-bottomed outer ditch ... 13.7m wide and 2.7m deep. Some sections of the bank can still be traced at various points.' (Soulsby). The borough was not as large as the defences allowed and, despite being a county town, may not have had a town hall until Elizabethan times.
Lilley (2009 p. 110) makes the very interesting suggestion that Edward I had a direct hand in planning Flint's defences and that these were based on recommendations on design in Vegetius's De re militari of which he was given a copy by his wife in 1272.

Sources of information, references and further reading

The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 33106.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 100330.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 172
  Perfect, V., 2012, Flint Castle: the story of Edward I's first Welsh castle (Cilcain: Alyn Books) p. 50-1
  Kenyon, John, 2010, The Medieval Castles of Wales (University of Wales Press) p. 48
  Lilley, K.D., 2009, 'The Landscapes of Edward's New Towns: Their Planning and Design' in Willams, D. and Kenyon, J. (eds), The Impact of the Edwardian Castles in Wales (Oxbow) p. 99-113
  Lilley, K, Lloyd, C. and Trick, S., 2005, Mapping Medieval Townscapes: a digital atlas of the new towns of Edward I online copy
  Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 27, 39, 72, 97, 99, 101-2, 161, 162, 204, 274
  Salter, Mike, 1997, The Castles of North Wales (Malvern) p. 69
  Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds), Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  Soulsby, Ian, 1983, The Towns of Medieval Wales (Phillimore; Chichester) p. 135-7
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus)
  Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) The plans and topography of medieval towns in England and Wales (CBA Research Report 14) p. 57-71 online copy
  Beresford, M., 1967, New Towns of the Middle Ages (London) p. 37-40, 550
  RCAHMW, 1912, An inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Flintshire (HMSO) p. 29 no. 90 online copy
  Taylor, H., 1883, Historic notices of the Borough and County Town of Flint (London)
Periodical Articles
- 2015 Sept, 'Historic Flint Castle defences found under block of flats' Castle Studies Group Bulletin Vol. 20 p. 21 (new of archaeological investigation)
  Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
  Miles, T.J., 1996, 'Flint: Excavations at the Castle and on the Town Defences 1971-1974' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 145 p. 67-151
  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
  Taylor, A.J., 1957, 'The Building of Flint: A Postscript' Flintshire Historical Society Journal Vol. 17 p. 34-41 online copy
  Edwards, J. Goronwy, 1951,'The Building of Flint' Flintshire Historical Society Journal Vol. 12 p. 5-20 online copy
  Edwards, J. Goronwy, 1944, 'Edward I's Castle-Building in Wales' Proceedings of the British Academy Vol. 32 p. 32-7
  Lloyd, J.E., 1940, 'Notes on Flint' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 95 p. 57-9
Guidebooks
- Renn, Derek and Avent, Richard, 2001, Flint Castle — Ewloe Castle (Cardiff: CADW)
  From an original text by the late Hemp, W.J., 1987 (rev edn), Flint Castle (Cardiff: CADW)
  Hemp, W.J., 1929, Flint Castle (HMSO)
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete, particularly for the major royal castles and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1906, Calendar of Charter Rolls Henry III-Edward 1 1257-1300 Vol. 2. (HMSO) p. 276-77 (Borough Charter) online copy

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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.

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This record last updated 05/05/2017 07:24:05

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