Amaston Heath Farm
Has been described as a Certain Timber Castle (Ringwork)
There are earthwork remains
| Name | Amaston Heath Farm |
| Alternative Names | |
| Historic Country | Shropshire |
| Modern Authority | Shropshire |
| 1974 Authority | Shropshire |
| Civil Parish | Alberbury With Cardeston |
The monument includes the remains of a ringwork and bailey castle and a sample of the earthwork remains of ridge and furrow ploughing within an open field system. It is protected within two areas. The ringwork is situated in a marshy, valley bottom position and is believed to have been the centre of the manor of Amaston, held as part of the barony of Montgomery. The manor was held in C13 in return for providing two soldiers for 40 days in times of war. The ringwork includes a low roughly circular platform with an external diameter of 45m bounded by an external scarp 2m high. A bank averaging 0.6m high around the rim of the platform gives the interior of the site, which is 24m in diameter, a slightly dished appearance. Around the south eastern quarter of the site, the remains of a surrounding ditch are visible for approximately 22m as a slight depression 5m wide and 0.3m deep. To the north west of the ringwork and separated from it by a modern farm access road is a bailey in which the domestic buildings associated with the castle would have been protected. The bailey survives as a low, roughly sub-rectangular, platform with an internal area of 36m north west to south east by 40m transversely. It is bounded around the south west, west and north sides by a well defined scarp 1.5m high. The junction of the ringwork and bailey, at the south eastern side of the bailey, has been modified by the approach road to Heath Farm which now forms the south east side of the bailey enclosure. There is no visible trace of the ditch surrounding the extant sides of the bailey but it will survive as a buried feature with an estimated width of 4m. Extending over a considerable area to the south and east of the ringwork and bailey are the well defined earthwork remains of the ridge and furrow ploughing of an open field system. This represents the field system belonging to the medieval hamlet of Amaston
In 1086 seven tenants were recorded in the hamlet but by 1379 this had fallen to only four. Amaston is believed to have remained a recognisable hamlet until its final desertion in the 1690s. A sample of the ridge and furrow adjacent to the ringwork is included within the scheduling to preserve the stratigraphic relationship between the ringwork and the field system. (EH scheduling report 1995)
This site is a scheduled monument protected by law
Not Listed
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
| OS Map Grid Reference | SJ379113 |
| Latitude | 52.6959915161133 |
| Longitude | -2.92031002044678 |
| Eastings | 337900 |
| Northings | 311320 |
