Oswestry Castle: A Medieval Motte-and-Bailey Castle in Shropshire
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 3.9
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Modern
- Civilizations
- English, Norman
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page11 sections
History
Oswestry Castle is a medieval lowland motte-and-bailey castle in Oswestry, United Kingdom, first documented in 1086 after its construction by Rainald, Sheriff of Shropshire. A motte-and-bailey castle combined a raised mound, the motte, with an enclosed lower courtyard called the bailey. The castle stood in an area originally associated with the medieval Welsh principality of Powys and later became part of Shropshire.
Foundation and changing lordship
The Domesday Book, William the Conqueror’s survey of landholding and resources in England, records the castle as castelle Lurve or Castle L’Oeuvre in the Hundred of Meresberie. After Rainald, it passed to Alan fitz Flaad. The site was known by many names over time, including Album Monasterium, Blancminster, Blancmouster, Blancmustier, Croes Oswald, L’Oeuvre, Castle Loure, Castle Philip, Oswaldestre, and Meresberie.
Oswestry became involved in the civil war between King Stephen and Empress Matilda, known as the Anarchy, a succession conflict over the English throne that lasted from 1135 to 1154. William FitzAlan, the Marcher Lord of Oswestry, supported Matilda. After 1138, Stephen deprived him of his lands, titles, and the castle’s territory, forcing him into exile. Madog ap Maredudd, Prince of Powys, reclaimed the castle and surrounding lordship between 1149 and 1154. Following Henry II’s accession in 1154, William FitzAlan recovered his estates and became High Sheriff of Shropshire again in 1155, retaining the office until his death in 1160.
Border conflict and the medieval town
The castle was repeatedly drawn into conflict between the Welsh and the English. Henry II used it as a base for his unsuccessful campaign against Owain Gwynedd in 1165. During King John’s campaign against Llywelyn the Great in 1211, the castle was attacked. These campaigns reflected Oswestry’s position in the contested borderlands between England and Wales.
By 1270, the castle walls had been extended to enclose the town. The settlement had already grown beyond the bailey before the town walls were built in the second half of the thirteenth century, and the castle’s military importance subsequently declined. Richard II held a parliamentary assembly at Oswestry Castle in 1398. An inventory from that year lists three chambers, a hall, a chapel dedicated to Saint Nicholas, a kitchen, a larder, and a buttery, a service room for storing and issuing drink.
Civil War destruction
During the English Civil War, Royalist troops garrisoned the castle. Oliver Cromwell’s forces captured it in 1644, and Parliamentary troops, known as the Roundheads, had largely demolished it by 1650. The castle later remained a ruin. Its keep, bastion, walls, and gate piers are Grade II Listed Buildings, an English designation for structures of special architectural or historic interest.
Remains
The surviving site is arranged around a substantial motte, with the bailey to its south and the remains of the keep on the mound. Other surviving elements include a bastion, sections of the castle walls, and gate piers. The visible remains present the castle as a ruined medieval defensive complex whose later relationship with the town is reflected in the surviving layout.
Motte, keep, and bailey
The motte and keep
The motte rises approximately 12 metres and measures about 72 metres by 52 metres at its base. Collapsed stone remains of the keep survive in situ on its summit. The keep may date from the thirteenth century, although its internal arrangement is unknown. The 1398 inventory gives an indication of its former contents, listing three chambers, a hall, the chapel of Saint Nicholas, a kitchen, a larder, and a buttery.
The bailey
The bailey lies south of the motte and probably provided the initial focus for the town’s development. Its former position is preserved in the names Bailey Street and Bailey Head. The town later expanded beyond this area before the construction of the town walls in the second half of the thirteenth century.
Defensive remains
The bastion
A bastion, a projecting defensive structure, survives southeast of the keep. It was largely rebuilt in the late nineteenth century, giving the surviving feature a later physical form while retaining its place within the castle’s defensive remains.
Walls and gate piers
Sections of the castle walls and the gate piers also survive on the site. Together with the motte, collapsed keep, bailey, and bastion, they form the visible remains of Oswestry Castle.
