Medieval Shropshire (AD 1066 to AD 1500)

On this page you can find links to information about Shropshire during the Medieval period.

The Normans and Domesday Shropshire

Shortly after the Norman Conquest, and following rebellions in 1067-9, William the Conqueror appointed three of his key lieutenants to the counties along the Welsh Marches. Hugh d’Avranches was made Earl of Chester, William FitzOsbern was created Earl of Hereford, and Roger of Montgomery became Earl of Shrewsbury.

The Domesday Survey of 1086 gives a picture for Shropshire of a largely settled landscape, though with areas of waste (including lands in the west of the county subjected to Welsh raiding in the years preceding the Conquest). Shrewsbury appears to be the county’s only town, though a number of large manors are recorded some of which developed into the later market towns.

The excellent and comprehensive notes to the 1986 Phillimore edition of the Domesday Book volume for the county (Thorn & Thorn, 1986) provide a detailed picture of the settlement of the county in the 11th century.

Settlements

At the time of the conquest, the majority of the population lived in manors, nucleated settlements surrounded by open fields, common land, and woodland. Most of these settlements have continued to the present day to become the county’s modern hamlets, villages, and towns. A number have shrunk, particularly over the last century and are now represented by single farmsteads, and a few failed completely to become the “deserted medieval settlements” that are a feature of the landscape south Shropshire hills.

Agriculture

The Victoria History of Shropshire volume on agriculture in the county (Baugh, 1989) and Paul Stamper's book "The Farmer Feeds Us All" provide accounts of the rural settlement and agricultural practices in the county in the Middle Ages.

Towns

The development of the county town of Shrewsbury in the medieval period is traced in detail in Nigel Baker’s archaeological assessment of the town. The medieval period also saw the development of the county’s market towns from manorial settlements; individual assessments of these towns were undertaken by the Central Marches Historic Towns Survey published in the mid- to late 1990s.

Castles

Earl Roger’s response to local rebellions in Shropshire and the threat from Wales was to build castles at Montgomery, Shrewsbury and Oswestry, and, in turn, to install his supporters as his tenants in the lands along the border.

The Normans’ need to establish and maintain their control over Shropshire after the Conquest is reflected in the large number of castle sites built by Roger's supporters in the county.

Eventually there were 29 major castles in the county (sites with extensive earthworks and substantial stone elements), and 88 earthwork motte and bailey and ring-work and bailey castles. There were also, 6 fortified manor houses and 2 tower keeps.

Religious Houses

All but one (Wenlock Abbey) of Shropshire’s monastic houses were founded after the Norman Conquest. These religious institutions include 13 abbeys and priories, 7 friaries, and 8 hospitals, as well as a number of collegiate churches, almshouses, preceptories and a religious guild. During the medieval period, the county’s principal religious houses (and a number from outside the county) had acquired substantial landholdings within the county by the end of the medieval period. The Shropshire HER records 28 granges though there were probably more; by the later Middle Ages, most of these will have been farmed by tenants.

Industry

Medieval rural industry is marked by in the main by the sites of water-mills, a small number of windmill sites, and small quarries. Ironworking and bloomery and other metal-working sites have been recorded in a number of the county's towns, and also in the Wyre Forest area in the southeast of the county. Mining for lead was taking place in the Shelve area. A pottery waster dump is known from Cockshutt, near Ellesmere (HER 04715), and a pottery kiln base was found in an evaluation at Noble Street, Wem.