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A Watching Brief at Holdgate Castle, Much Wenlock, Shropshire CONTENTS Page No 1 INTRODUCTION 2 2 HISTORY OF THE SITE 2 3 THE EXCAVATIONS 3 4 REFERENCES AND SOURCES CONSULTED 3 ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1: Site location Fig. 2: Holdgate Hall Farm Fig. 3: Development area showing location of foundation pits (A - N) Fig. 4: Schematic section through foundation pit A 1 A Watching Brief at Holdgate Castle, Much Wenlock, Shropshire 1 INTRODUCTION Holdgate is a small village in Tugford Civil Parish, situated about 11.5km southwest of Much Wenlock, Shropshire (Fig. 1). In September 1996, work began on the erection of a new agricultural building at Holdgate Hall, Much Wenlock, Shropshire. The development site lay within the scheduled ancient monument known as: Motte, Bailey, & Garden Remains, Holdgate Castle, Shropshire, National Monument No. 19192. Scheduled monument consent for the works was granted with the condition that they be subject to archaeological supervision and recording, as specified in a brief prepared by the Head of Archaeology, Information and Community Services, Shropshire County Council and approved by English Heritage. The site owner commissioned the Archaeological Service, Shropshire County Council to carry out the archaeological supervision and recording. 2 HISTORY OF THE SITE Holdgate is first mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086, when it was known as Stantune. At that time it lay in Patton Hundred, later it fell within Munslow Hundred. Holdgate consisted of two holdings. Before the conquest one had been held by Ketel and was valued at 8 shillings; at the time of the Domesday Survey it had land for 3 ploughs and was valued at only 3 shillings. The other was held before 1066 as four manors by Genust, Alward, Dunning, and Aelfeva, and had been valued at 18 shillings. At the time of the survey, this holding had a castle, a church and priest, and land for six ploughs, and was valued at 25 shillings. By 1086, Holdgate was held by Helgot from Roger of Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury. Helgot's lands formed the barony of Castle Holdgate, which passed by descent to Thomas Mauduit in 1204, and thence to Richard, Earl of Cornwall, who gave the estates to the Knights Templar. The barony then passed to Richard's son, Edmund, and in 1284 the lands were acquired by Robert Burnell, Bishop of Bath and Wells. (Thorn, 1986.) A secular college was founded in the castle before 1210, and dissolved after 1373 (SMR file SA183). The castle had a garden, mentioned in 1292 and 1315, and it has been suggested that earthworks southeast of the castle may represent the remains of a formal garden. In 1428 the castle had two parks, one of which may have lain to the east of the castle. (SMR file SA7721) Holdgate remained in the possession of the Burnells and their descendants until c.1495, when it was retained by the crown; it was granted by Henry VIII to the Duke of Norfolk, but by 1551 it had passed to the Cressets. In 1644 the castle was besieged and heavily damaged by the Royalists, who abandoned it in 1645. (Jackson, 1988, SMR file SA183) The motte, with square foundations on its top, survives today, although the bailey is mostly destroyed. A large 13th century round tower is incorporated into the farmhouse, Holdgate Hall (SA11391), which dates to the 16th century, with 19th and 20th century alterations. (SMR files, SA183 & SA 11391) 2 A Watching Brief at Holdgate Castle, Much Wenlock, Shropshire 3 THE EXCAVATIONS Fourteen rectangular pits (Fig. 3, A - N) each approximately 1.4m long by 0.8m wide by 0.7m deep were dug by mechanical excavator for the foundations of the new barn. The natural red boulder clay was seen at a depth below the existing ground surface of c. 0.40m to 0.75m depth in pits A, B, C, D, H, J, and N. In pit A, at the southern corner of the site, a deposit 0.20m thick of sandstone fragments in reddish brown sandy clay (context 1002) was seen to overlie the natural boulder clay at a depth of 0.40m beneath the existing ground surface. Pit A was located just behind the crest of the hedgebank which marks the southeastern boundary of the farmyard. The road through the village curves around the outside of, and lies a couple of metres below, this bank, which probably also marks the site of the southern side of the castle bailey (Fig. 2). The deposit of stone rubble seen in pit A may mark the remains of a defensive bank along the perimeter of the bailey at this point. A possible former yard surface of stone chippings in a reddish brown sandy clay matrix 0.15m thick (contexts 1001, 1005, 1009, 1013, 1024, & 1037) was seen in pits A, B, C, D, H, and N at a depth of between 0.20m to 0.35m beneath the existing ground surface. In pit A, this layer sealed the sandstone rubble deposit (1002) seen in pit A. No dating material was found associated with any of these deposits. The foundation pits alongside the existing Dutch barn cut through a deposit at least 0.55m deep of mixed red clay, of apparently recent deposition, and probably representing deposits formed during the construction of the barn. No other significant archaeological features or deposits were recorded, and no finds were recovered from the excavations. 4 REFERENCES AND SOURCES CONSULTED Jackson, M, 1988: Castles of Shropshire, Shropshire Books, Shrewsbury Stamper, P, 1993: A Survey of Historic Parks and Gardens in Shropshire, Shropshire county Council Archaeology Service report no. 41 Thorn, F and C (eds), 1986: Domesday Book, Shropshire, Phillimore, Chichester Abbreviations: APs Aerial Photographs OS Ordnance Survey SMR Sites and Monuments Record, Shire Hall, Shrewsbury SRRC Shropshire Records and Research Centre, Castle Gates, Shrewsbury TSAS Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society TSAHS Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society VCHS Victoria County History of Shropshire 3 .

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