Bicton Castle was a motte and bailey castle in the village of Bicton, Shropshire. It 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. A short distance further up the Clun valley, Bicton 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 hamlet of Bicton formed part of the Clun estates.
The castle’s motte would originally have been approximately 30 m (98 ft) across; today it is around 2.2 m (7 ft) high, and parts of it have been quarried, leaving an oval shape. It had a bailey, 14 m by 25 m (46 ft by 82 ft), to the south, and was protected by an earthwork bank.
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
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