Lower Down Castle was a probable 12th century fortification, located in the village of Lydbury North, Shropshire, England.
The castle was probably built in the early 12th century by the de Says family, who had been granted the manor – and later barony – of Clun after the Norman invasion of England. The de Says family’s main castle was at Clun, and the fortification and the surrounding lands formed part of a fiercely contested border region between the Normans and the Welsh.
Like other Norman lords at this time, the de Says family tried to expand further into Wales. Helias de Say inherited the castle from his father around 1130, and said to have fought and killed the Welsh princes Howell and Cadogan. Under Helias, the barony of Say was divided in two, with Helias’ daughter, Isabella de Say, receiving an expanded estate centred on Clun, and the more easterly elements of the de Say land being given to Theodoric de Say. Further up the valley, Lower Down Castle was probably built at this time to shield Clun from direct attack by Welsh forces advancing over the ridgeways further to the north; the village of Lydbury North formed part of the Clun estates.
Lower Down Castle formed an earthwork motte, that survives today 36 m (115 ft) across at the base, and 18 m (59 ft) at the top, being 4.7 m (15 ft) tall, protected by a bank and ditch, the former surviving up to 4.3 m (14 ft) high. The centre of the motte appears to have supported a polygonal stone shell keep or a square tower with a forebuilding. A settlement , encompassed by a bank and ditch, was located to the north and north-east of the castle.
The site is protected under UK law as a Scheduled Monument.
Bibliography
- Lierberman, Max. (2010) The Medieval March of Wales: The Creation and Perception of a Frontier, 1066-1283. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139486897.
- Suppe, Frederick C. (2001) “The Persistence of Castle Guard in the Welsh Marches and Wales: Suggestions for a Research Agenda and Methodology,” in Abels, Richard Philip and Bernard S. Bachrach. (eds) 2001 The Normans and their Adversaries at War. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell.
- Suppe, Frederick C. (2003) “Castle guard and the Castlery of Clun,” in Liddiard, Robert. (ed) (2003) Anglo Norman Castles. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press.
Attribution
The text of this page is licensed under under CC BY-NC 2.0. The photograph is drawn from the Geograph website, and attributed and licensed as follows: “Shropshire earthworks at Lower Down 2“, author Martin Richard Phelan, released under CC BY-SA 2.0.