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Brompton Mill Castle

in the civil parish of Chirbury With Brompton, Shropshire, England
SO25099316

Map link for Brompton Mill Castle

Text and photographs copyright © by Philip Davis

A very well preserved conical motte. The motte has a base diameter of 33m and a height of 7.5m and the summit is 7 to 8m in diameter. The encircling ditch is 8m in width and 1m in depth, but has been filled in on the south west side and destroyed on the north side by the cutting of a mill stream. The bailey to the south east is about 50m across and is bounded on the south side by a steep scarp 8m in length and 3m in height. The Motte and bailey may be C12 in date. Built on line of Offa's Dyke.

A small earthwork castle typical of the Welsh Marches although the motte here is notably well preserved, although the bailey is now mostly destroyed. The motte would have been topped with a timber tower which would have had mainly symbolic significance, although it could have been used as a retreat. The residential buildings of the minor knight who's home this was would have been in the bailey were a farmhouse continues to be a home on a site probably occupied for 900 years.

Although the castle site beside a major road into Wales it is actually not well sited to control this route. It's main function was, presumably, as a manorial centre.

The motte is visible from road but not accessible and the bailey is not visible. The motte is a Scheduled Monument.

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