WHITTINGTON, SHROPSHIRE.
AMONG the baronial families which rose upon the ruins of the house of Montgomery, and wielded the fragments of that power, which, united in the hands of Earl Roger and Robert de Belesme, had proved so formidable, the lords of Clun, Oswaldestre, and Whittington, De Say, Fitz-Alan, and Fitz-Warine occupied, in the northern parts of the great earldom, and upon the borders of Wales, by much the chief place. De Say indeed, speedily, by an heiress, became absorbed in Fitz-Alan, and probably in the same convenient way, “Felix Austria nube,” the broad lands of Peverel, merged in Fitz-Warine, so that the lords of Oswaldestre and Whittington held about co-equal rule in the Marches, and were alike exposed alternately to the encroachments of their sovereign on the one hand, and to the fiery assaults of the Welsh on the other—dangers which probably prevented them from turning their arms against one another, so that they remained vigorous and warlike for above two centuries, although the battlements of their castles were plainly visible, the one from the other, and scarce two miles apart.
The position of Oswaldestre has already been described. Whittington lay about two miles to the north-east, and about four and a half miles within or to the east of Offa’s Dyke, while Watt’s Dyke extended between them. The site of Whittington was probably selected as the centre of a fertile estate, rather than for any very striking military advantages, for the position is low and marshy—a feature of which, however, the ancient engineer largely and judiciously availed himself. By whom or when the original fortress was founded is utterly unknown. Certainly long before its occupation by those Norman invaders, who identified it with their fame. As, like Shrewsbury, Clun, and Oswaldestre, its keep was placed upon a moated mound, its origin, like theirs, may probably be attributed to the reign of Edward the Elder, or the earlier part of the tenth century, and to the fierce Mercian Saxons, who, as early as the middle of the seventh century, seem to have established themselves along the Welsh border.
The central mound, which is the main feature of these and many ninth and tenth century fortresses, is here wholly artificial, about 30 feet in height, and about 150 feet by 100 feet diameter upon its rounded and table summit. At the foot of the mound is a ditch, from 40 feet to 60 feet in breadth, and beyond this are three elevated platforms, as was not unusual. Of these, the first lies towards the north and east, and is also moated. Across it lay the principal entrance from the outer road, and to the keep. On the west side is a second platform, also moated, and in strength rivalling the keep mound itself. The third platform, far superior to these in area, and also moated, is placed beyond them, towards the north-west.
The cluster of four islands, thus protected from the exterior and from each other, is covered to the south and west by three banks and three ditches, arranged concentrically, and including within their sweep about one-third of a great circle of eight hundred yards radius, within which figure, roughly triangular, is contained the castle. The defence upon the north and east was formed, not by banks and ditches, but by a broad expanse of what is still marshy ground, and must formerly have been an impassable morass. This tract was flooded by a small but rapid brook, which descends from the north-west, skirts the ends of the ditches of the castle, and supplied them also with water. At present the brook skirts the south edge of the old morass, and, running in front of the outer entrance, turns off to the south-east, probably again communicating with the ditches of the castle at their other or eastern end. The earthworks thus described, palisaded or even planted with a stout thorn hedge along the outer banks, would possess great strength. The ditches, probably, all contained water, and with the marsh would be only the more impassable were the water drained off and its area replaced by mud. What the Norman baron who obtained the estate found or supplied in the way of defences cannot now be ascertained. Of the masonry now remaining there is nothing which can be regarded as earlier than the reign of Henry III. This could scarcely have been the first masonry employed in the defences; and yet if walls and towers were built in the reigns of Henry II. and John, they would assuredly have been of a substantial and marked character, and would scarcely have been removed either by time or the hand of man in the lapse of a century or a century and a half.
WHITTINGTON CASTLE—GROUND PLAN.
The central mound has been scarped vertically, probably in the time of Henry III., and is included within a revetment wall of great strength, and about 30 feet high. This seems to have been surmounted by a parapet, and to have been reinforced by a number of flanking towers, of which one and a part of two others remain. The most perfect is cylindrical, about 30 feet in diameter, with walls 10 feet thick. Its base is occupied by a circular pit, probably a dungeon; and, if so, a gloomy and damp one, not having a single loop or air-hole. The floor is a foot or two above the bottom level of the ditch, and the platform of timber covering it, the floor of the first story, was on a level with the top of the mound. This stage had two loops, cruciform, with the lower limb very long, and terminating in a dovetail. They are placed in large recesses, low-pointed. There was an upper floor, of which only fragments remain. The pit was probably reached by a ladder, for a door, seen in its base to the east, is an insertion. The first-floor door is represented by a breach on the south-west side. This tower flanked the inner gateway of the keep. Of the corresponding tower, to the west, a portion only remains. It was of the same size and shape, and between the two was a space of 12 feet, occupied by the gateway and drawbridge, of which the pit remains.
A fragment of the base of a similar tower is seen at the south-west angle of the mound, and there were two, or perhaps three more, to the south-east and north-east; but this part of the work is concealed by loose earth and thick vegetation. Altogether, it appears that the keep was a mound, scarped or faced by a strong revetment wall, in a polygonal form, and capping each angle was a lofty round tower, rising out of the ditch. There is said to be a well in the south-west corner, but it is not now visible. From the inner gatehouse a bridge crossed the inner ditch, and landed upon the opposite bank, a few yards in the rear, or west of the outer gatehouse. This was a rectangular structure, having at its eastern or outer end two three-quarter drum towers, corresponding in size and workmanship with those flanking the inner, as do these the outer gateway. They are looped with cruciform and dove-tailed loops, and between them is a depressed pointed arch of plain pattern, chamfered, and with an exterior roll moulding. There is said to be an escutcheon in the wall above the gateway; but if so, it is concealed by ivy. Above is a corbel table, pierced with machicolations. The half of this gatehouse, south of the entrance passage, is tolerably perfect. It contains a chamber in the south wall, in which is a window of three lights, acutely pointed, under an acutely pointed head. The heads of the lights are cinquefoiled, and the apertures in the head quatrefoiled, the whole being late Decorated. This window is said to have been removed from the old parish church when “restored.” The northern half of the gatehouse is nearly all destroyed. There remains part of a curtain wall, passing southwards from the gatehouse to the edge of the ditch. A similar wall on the north side passes backwards along the edge of the ditch, and upon it are the remains of two round towers, connected with the gatehouse. What masonry remains is composed of large square blocks of red sandstone. The whole of the older part seems of the reign of Henry III., and is, no doubt, Fitz-Warine work. There is little or no trace of masonry on the several platforms or banks, save that on one bank to the south-west is a mark of a revetment wall which may or may not be old. Probably the masonry was confined to the keep and barbican-like platform occupied by the outer gatehouse, which would include an area for a very sufficient garrison. The banks, like those at Berkhampstead, are narrow, and would scarcely have carried a wall. The ditches were all filled from the brook, with which they communicated at each end.
The castle seems to have been laid out as a fancy garden a century or so ago, as there are traces of pebble-laid walks, and here and there modern brickwork. The church has been rebuilt early in the present century, and is altogether what might be expected. Recently some arches have been inserted in better taste in the Norman style. Mr. Lloyd, of Aston, is the lord of the manor and owner of the castle.
Whittington occurs in Domesday as “Wititone,” when Earl Roger de Montgomery held it, with seven and a half berewicks. King Edward had held it, but in his time it was waste. Ethelred, Edward’s father, had held it as three manors, which seem to have been Maesbury, Whittington, and Chirbury. In Earl Roger’s time it yielded £15. 15s. The berewicks are the later townships, comprising those of Welsh Frankton, Berghill, Daywell, Fernhill, Hindford, Henlle, Ebnall, and half of Old Marton. From Earl Roger, Whittington descended to Robert de Belesme, and, on his forfeiture, passed to Henry I., who seems to have granted it to William Peverel of Dover, whose nephew, William Peverel, held it against Stephen in 1138. The second Peverel died childless. The last one of his co-heirs married Guarin de Metz, sheriff of Salop, in 1083, but the king seems to have resumed possession of the castle, and to have granted it, in 1164, to Geoffrey de Vere, who married Isabel de Say of Clun. Next year, 1165, Henry resumed it, and granted it to Roger de Powys, a Welshman, who held office in South Wales. He was also custos of the Fitz-Alan Castle of “Dernio,” which Mr. Eyton takes to be Edeyrneon Castle, in Merioneth. In 1173 Roger was allowed aid for its repairs. Meredith, son of Roger, succeeded, and was followed by Meyric, Meredith’s brother, who died about 1200. He was called Meyric de Powys of Wales, and paid fifty marcs to King John to have Whittington and Overton. The Powys tenure was that of “king’s messenger in Wales.”
The Fitz-Warines seem always to have kept alive their claim from their ancestor Guarin, though Wrenoc, son of Meyric, succeeded, and paid eighty marcs to John for the villages and castles of Whittington and Overton, but Fulk Fitz-Warine seems to have obtained the castle from the Prince of Wales, which John at first resented, but finally, in 1204, confirmed to Fulk, as his “right and heritage,” when he paid 200 marcs and two “destriers,” and gained a judicial decision in his favour. 5 Henry III. he had licence to fortify the castle. The Fitz-Warines continued to hold the castle and manor until the failure of their elder male line, by the death of Fulk, the eleventh lord, in 1420. The Hospitallers held a manor in Whittington by the service of finding a chaplain for the chapel of the castle.
A little before 7 Henry III., Prince Llewelyn laid siege to the castle, and it sustained a severe attack from the Welsh on the Friday preceding Midsummer, 6 Henry IV. It appeared, from an inquiry dated 1 Henry V., that Richard II. had granted the castle, pending the minority of Fulk Fitz-Warine, to Yvion Fitz-Warine, who sold the wardship to Elizabeth, Lady Botreaux, a daughter of Sir Ralph d’Aubigny, and she held it when attacked. Probably she expected the attack to be repeated, for, on the Sunday after Midsummer, Thomas, Earl of Arundel, with soldiers from Oswaldestre, took charge. Elizabeth resigned her wardship to William de Clinton and Anne, his wife, and her daughter.
It is much to be desired that some person resident in this most interesting district would take up the subject of its earthworks, of which there are many of all ages, and some not set down in the Ordnance map. Many of the earthworks are so placed, with regard to Offa’s and Watt’s Dykes, as to show whether they are of earlier date or subsequent to those lines.
Among the most curious of these earthworks is one within the domain of Porkington, and which bears its ancient name of Brogyntyn. It is a regular circle, 50 yards or so across, contained within a bank of earth, about 4 feet to 6 feet high, outside of which is a ditch. The central area has been levelled for a bowling-green, but was, no doubt, always flat, and although a drift has been driven across and below the circle, and the ditch is planted and contains a modern walk, there is no reason to suppose that the character of the work has been materially altered. In Ireland it would be called a rath; but in Ireland it would not crown a rather steep eminence, but be placed in the midst of land that might readily be cultivated, which this could not. It is pretty clear that its figure is intentionally and not incidentally a circle, by no means often the case with Welsh camps.