Bridgnorth Town Defences
Has been described as a Certain Urban Defence
There are masonry footings remains
| Name | Bridgnorth Town Defences |
| Alternative Names | Bridgenorth; Burgh; Cow Gate; Listley Gate; North Gate; West Gate; Hungary Gate; St Marys Gate; Whitburn Gate; Barrier Gate |
| Historic Country | Shropshire |
| Modern Authority | Shropshire |
| 1974 Authority | Shropshire |
| Civil Parish | Bridgnorth |
The first defences of the town were a moat and timber stockade built between 1216 and 1223 (Mason 1957, 10). From 1220 the town received a number of murage grants (Croom 1992, 34) and the stone defences date from this period. The defences included a ditch except on the eastern edge of the town where the steep slopes down to the river made this unnecessary. The defences had five main gates built between 1256 and 1264: Northgate (SA 379); Whitburn gate (SA 380); Hungary/St Mary's Gate (SA 375); Listley Gate at the top of Railway Street (SA 376); and Cow Gate at the top of the Cartway (SA 378). The town defences were separated from those of the castle by a deep moat in the area of the Victorian Market buildings. Barrier Gate (SA 377) stood on the north side of this moat and was joined to the north gate of the castle by a drawbridge.
A few fragments of the town walls survive and the line in some places is reflected in later property boundaries. The line of the defences has been postulated by a number of authors (Bond 1987; Slater 1988 and 1990), but on the eastern side in particular the line of the circuit cannot be exactly located. It is not clear for instance whether the Franciscan Friary was outside the walls or protected by a wall to the north running down to the river as suggested by Bond (1987). Murage grants continued to be given until the 15th century (Watkins-Pitchford 1942) but by the mid-16th century the town walls "are all in ruins" (Chandler 1993, 392). (Buteux 2005)
Not scheduled
This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law
Historic England Scheduled Monument Number
Historic England Listed Building number(s)
Images Of England
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
| OS Map Grid Reference | SO715933 |
| Latitude | 52.5369911193848 |
| Longitude | -2.42055988311768 |
| Eastings | 371570 |
| Northings | 293320 |
