Shotwick Castle

Infobox Military Structure
name=Shotwick Castle
partof=
location=Saughall, Cheshire, England
coordinates=


caption=
type=Castle
code=
built=c 1093
builder=Hugh Lupus, 1st Earl of Chester
materials=
height=
used=11th to 13th century
demolished=
condition=Earthworks only
ownership=
open_to_public=
controlledby=
garrison=
current_commander=
commanders=
occupants=
battles=
events=

Shotwick Castle existed near to the village of Saughall, Cheshire, England(gbmapping|SJ350704).

The castle was built about 1093 by Hugh Lupus, 1st Earl of Chester, [http://www.saughall.gov.uk/Hist1.htm Saughall & Shotwick Parish Council: History] Retrieved 10 May 2007 ] sited at what is now Shotwick Park and near the River Dee. It was a motte castle enlarged in the 12th and 13th centuries into a hexagonal enclosure of stone walls with a tower inside it. It controlled a ford across the River Dee.cite book | last =Fry | first =Plantagenet Somerset | authorlink =Plantagenet Somerset Fry | coauthors = | title =The David & Charles Book of Castles | publisher =David & Charles | date =1980 | location =Newton Abbot | pages =297 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn =0-7153-7976-3] Several kings of England, including Henry II and Henry III stayed at the castle during their campaigns against the Welsh, and Edward I visited it in September 1284. The castle was taken over by the Crown in the 13th century and it was in ruins by the 17th century. [http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba24/ba24news.html "British Archaeology", no 24, May 1997] Retrieved 28 August 2007]

In 1876 a local schoolmaster called Williams made a partial excavation of the castle site, finding glazed pottery, a spur and fragments of deer horns. There is little left of the castle today, other than a few earthworks. A survey of the earthworks in the 1990s produced evidence that that castle had been converted into a country house with ornamental gardens in the late medieval period.

Notes