Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/437

 The Castle and Barony of Chm, Shropshire. 405 took possession of his dangerous grant. They belong to the class known as burhs, or moated mounds, and date from the ninth or tenth century. By whom they were thrown up, or, rather, carved out, is unknown ; but it may safely be asserted that they represent the chief residence of one of those EngHshmen who invaded and settled upon the Welsh territory, and whose duty it was to defend the western and often-attacked border of the Mercian kingdom. The occupant of such a position must have been a bold and power- ful leader ; though whether he lived before or after the formation of Offa's Dyke is doubtful. Possibly a careful examination of the Saeson bank ridge, where it is crossed by the Dyke, might throw a light upon this point, and the researches should extend to Crugyn or Castle Hill, on Bishop's Castle racecourse, to Bishop's Moat, Caer-din, Tomen, Castell-cefn-fron or Bryn Amlwg, and some other camps and tumuli on each side the border. Besides these are others, both camps and tumuli, and a remarkable upright stone or maenhir within the forest, all, no doubt, of British date. It must be borne in mind that Clun, though an exposed part of the Mercian territory, was covered to the north-west and north by the English settlements along the Upper Severn, of which there are ample traces from Kerry to Welshpool, on both sides of the Dyke. Looking at the extension of the barony of Clun, westward of the Dyke, to a natural boundary, it seems probable that the barony was founded when the Dyke was no longer the Mercian border, and the English had pushed their settlements up the valley of the Severn. This also would be more consistent with the figure of the earthworks of Clun and of the adjacent district, which resemble those thrown up by ^thelflgeda and Edward the Elder early in the tenth century, and of which Wigmore is a recorded example. The position and estate of Clun, like those of many similar domains in England and within the Marches, were at once taken possession of by the Norman followers of the Conqueror, and held by Picot de Say as a military fief dependent upon Roger de Mont- gomery at Shrewsbury. Whether De Say or his immediate suc- cessors fortified the mounds with masonry after the manner then coming into use in Normandy, or whether they contented them- selves with such defences, probably of timber, as they found ready to hand, is not known, but if they had at once built a keep and walls in the Norman manner, it is exceedingly improbable that no trace of works usually so substantial should even now remain, and still more so that they should have been decayed by the middle of the twelfth century, which is probably the date of the older part of the masonry now standing, and which it will be proper next to describe. The Keep. — This is a large rectangular tower built on the lower edge and up the eastern slope of the mound, and therein resembling Guildford. Its dimensions are 42 feet north and south by 68 feet east and west, and the walls at the base are about 1 1 feet thick, and rise to about 6 feet at the summit. It is of three stages ; the first