Middlehope

Has been described as a Certain Timber Castle (Motte)

There are earthwork remains

NameMiddlehope
Alternative Names
Historic CountryShropshire
Modern AuthorityShropshire
1974 AuthorityShropshire
Civil ParishDiddlebury

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

Gatehouse Comments

Very small Domesday manor held by Herbert of Furches from Roger de Lacy. Herbert had a handful of other holdings in Shropshire and Herefordshire although his caput was Corfton. Middlehope may have been further sub-tenanted as by the early C13 it was held by a probably knight William de Middelhope. Even if completed this would have been a modest castle but it seems there weren't the resources to finish it anyway.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSO498886
Latitude52.4933815002441
Longitude-2.73985004425049
Eastings349870
Northings288630
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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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

Journals

  • 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