Hopton Castle (structure) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Hopton Castle is situated in the village of the same name

Hopton Castle

Hopton Castle is a small village and civil parish in Shropshire, England.The village grew up near to the keep of Hopton Castle, which was opened as a visitor attraction in 2011. Nearby is the hamlet of Hopton Heath, with its small station on the Heart of Wales Line...

which lies approximately half way between Knighton and Craven Arms

Craven Arms

Craven Arms is a small town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, located on the A49 road and the Welsh Marches railway line, which connect it north and south to the larger towns of Shrewsbury and Ludlow respectively. The Heart of Wales railway line joins the Welsh Marches line at Craven Arms...

, in the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

county of Shropshire

Shropshire

Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

. Hopton Castle featured in the British TV series Time Team
Time Team
Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on Channel 4 since 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode features a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining...

in 2010. A ruin since the early 18th century, it was partially restored between 2006 and 2011, and was officially re-opened to the public as a visitor attraction in December 2011 by the Duke of Gloucester

Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester

Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester is a member of the British Royal Family. Prince Richard is the youngest grandchild of King George V and Queen Mary. He has been Duke of Gloucester since his father's death in 1974. He is currently 20th in the line of succession...

Norman Castle

It would seem likely that the castle was founded in the 12th century as a motte and bailey by one of the Hoptons as a mesne lord of the Says of Clun Castle

Clun Castle

Clun Castle is a ruined castle in the small town of Clun, Shropshire. Clun Castle was established by the Norman lord Robert de Say after the invasion and went on to become an important Marcher lord castle in the 12th century, with an extensive castle-guard system...

. It would seem likely that Walter de Hopton built the stone castle

Castle

A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

during the Barons' War of the 1260s. The bailey was fortified in stone and an impressive rectangular two storey keep

Keep

A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...

was built. The last Walter Hopton died during the Wars of the Roses

Wars of the Roses

The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars for the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York...

and the castle passed by marriage to the Corbet family of Moreton Corbet castle

Moreton Corbet castle

Moreton Corbet Castle is an English Heritage property located near the village of Moreton Corbet, Shropshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building. The ruins are from two different eras: a medieval stronghold and an Elizabethan era manor house...

Massacre

During the Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

Hopton Castle was one of the few castles to be held for the Parliament in the west. Sir Michael Woodhouse laid siege

Siege

A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...

to the castle, with a force of about 500, which was defended by about 30 Roundheads under the command of Samuel More

Samuel More

Samuel More was at the centre of two separate controversies in seventeenth century England.- The Mayflower controversy :Samuel More married his cousin Katherine More at Shipton in Corvedale on February 4, 1610 . Katherine’s father, Jasper More, was master of Larden, a 1000-acre estate between Much...

. More eventually agreed terms and surrender

Surrender (military)

Surrender is when soldiers, nations or other combatants stop fighting and eventually become prisoners of war, either as individuals or when ordered to by their officers. A white flag is a common symbol of surrender, as is the gesture of raising one's hands empty and open above one's head.When the...

ed. However the Cavaliers reneged on the agreement, and all the defenders except More were massacred and thrown into the moat.

Other accounts vary on how the siege ended. They state that after a three week siege, More delayed surrendering until the bailey had been taken and the entrance to the keep was on fire, at which point he surrendered at the discretion of the Sir Michael Woodhouse, who under the laws of war as they were practised at that time, choose not to accept the surrender and ordered the killings.

The castle was still habitable in 1700 but fell into disrepair soon afterwards. Substantial remnants of the much altered keep remain.

Hopton Castle Preservation Trust

In November 2008 the Hopton Castle Preservation Trust (founded in 2006) took ownership of the castle. The trust recently raised one million pounds, half of which was a grant from the National Lottery to fund conservation work and secure a future for the site. (See conservation and repair).

Time Team

The castle was the subject of a Time Team
Time Team
Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on Channel 4 since 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode features a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining...

excavation and episode, appearing in series 17 of the long-running archaeology

Archaeology

Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

television programme, as episode 5 ("The Massacre In The Cellar") of that series, and broadcast on Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

on 16 May 2010.

The remaining castle keep were excavated over 3 days by Time Team, clarifying the shape of the castle and the history of its construction. The keep had been captured by the Royalists during the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

. According to Major Samuel More who led the parliamentarians they had held off numerous attacks. Eventually the ensieged parliamentarians who were confined to the keep surrendered. According to More's account everyone was killed and buried.

Time Team had previously excavated and filmed at High Ercall

High Ercall

High Ercall, also known in the past as Ercall Magna, is a village in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. The civil parish is still called Ercall Magna, and had a total population of 1,679 at the 2001 census. The parish also includes the villages of...

, another Civil War site in Shropshire.

Conservation and repair

The conservation and repair of the ruin, funded principally by The Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage and the culmination of many years of campaigning and fund raising on the part of the new owners, The Hopton Castle Preservation Trust is due for completion in the spring of 2011. It is hoped the building will be open to visitors in the early summer. The works entailed significant structural stabilisation and rebuilding of the masonry and conservation of surviving medieval plaster. During this time a sophisticated and possibly unique garderobe chamber was revealed. As a result of evidence discovered within this chamber it is now believed that a siege breach may have taken place here.

The Conservation Project Team

Project Manager: Rayska Heritage
Architects: Wheatley lloyd Architects & John C Goome
Engineers: Shire Consulting
Archeologist: Richard K Morriss
Contractor: Conservation Building Services Ltd

External links

Hopton Castle Preservation Trust
http://www.cbsconservation.co.uk

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