Ringwork and bailey castle 100m north east of Heath Farm

Reasons for Designation

Ringworks are medieval fortifications built and occupied from the late Anglo-Saxon period to the later 12th century. They comprised a small defended area containing buildings which was surrounded or partly surrounded by a substantial ditch and a bank surmounted by a timber palisade or, rarely, a stone wall. Occasionally a more lightly defended embanked enclosure, the bailey, adjoined the ringwork. Ringworks acted as strongholds for military operations and in some cases as defended aristocratic or manorial settlements. They are rare nationally with only 200 recorded examples and less than 60 with baileys. As such, and as one of a limited number and very restricted range of Anglo-Saxon and Norman fortifications, ringworks are of particular significance to our understanding of the period.

The ringwork and bailey at Heath Farm survives well and is a good example of its class. Both the ringwork and the bailey appear largely undisturbed and will contain valuable archaeological information relating to their construction, date and the character of their occupation. Environmental evidence relating to the landscape in which they were constructed will be preserved beneath the banks and in the fill of the ditches. The proximity of the ridge and furrow field system belonging to the vanished hamlet of Amaston and the relationship between this and the ringwork add to the archaeological importance of the site. Such monuments when considered, either as single sites or in their broader relationship as a part of the medieval landscape contribute valuable information relating to the settlement pattern, economy and social organisation of the countryside during the medieval period.

Details

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 the 13th century 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.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

19211

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Watson, M, Musson, C, Shropshire from the Air. Man and the Landscape, (1993), 62

Other
CPTA 85-9-13, Ref CPTA 85-9-13, (1985)

End of official list entry

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