Castlefacts³

Hope Castle Mound, Shropshire

Has been described as a Certain Timber Castle (Motte)

There are earthwork remains

Name	Hope Castle Mound, Shropshire
Alternative Names	Lady House; Leye; Worthen 3
Historic Country	Shropshire
Modern Authority	Shropshire
1974 Authority	Shropshire
Civil Parish	Worthen With Shelve

The motte castle south west of Lady House Farm survives well and is a good example of its class. It will retain archaeological information relating to its construction and occupation. Environmental evidence relating to the landscape in which it was constructed will survive sealed on the old land surface beneath the motte and in the ditch fill. Such motte castles, when considered as a single site or as a part of a broader medieval landscape, contribute valuable information concerning the settlement pattern, economy and social structure of the countryside during the medieval period.

The monument includes the remains of a small motte castle situated on ground falling gently to the north, overlooking the valley of the Rea Brook. It includes a mound of earth and stone rubble construction 23m in diameter at base rising 3.5m to a flattened summit 8m in diameter. A shallow ditch averaging 3m wide and 0.4m deep, from which material would have been quarried for the construction of the mound, remains visible as a surface feature around the south, west and north sides of the motte. This will exist as a buried feature of similar proportions around the remaining east side of the motte. (Scheduling Report)

Gatehouse Comments

Hope was within the very large Domesday Manor of Worthin. There were 13 berewicks recorded in the Domesday entry and Hope is likely to have been one of these. Lady House Farm probably sits on, or near to, the site of the house and farm of one of Roger fitz Corbet's sub-tenants some of whom are named in the Domesday entry and identified as milites (knights) and a further three unidentified Radman (riders) are enlisted. The motte, adjacent to the farm would probably have been surmounted by a timber tower surviving primarily as a symbol of this military status. The C11/C12 farmstead may have been enclosed with a fence, although seemingly not a ditch and bank. By 1240 Hope was held for half a knights fee served as part of the military service the Corbet's owed the crown. It was usual for such service to be due 'in time of war' so, in time of trouble, it is likely the military man associated with this mound would be elsewhere so this could not function as a military base, although the building on the motte may have offered some protection from thieves.

- Philip Davis

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)

66425

County Historic Environment Record

www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MSA1258&resourceID=1015

OS Map Grid Reference	SJ344022
Latitude	52.613941192627
Longitude	-2.96977996826172
Eastings	334430
Northings	302240