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- Reconstruction and interactive maps of Shrewsbury c1630
- Shrewsbury Castle in the Tudor Period
- Town Walls Shrewsbury
- Welsh Gate and Mardol Gate on Welsh Bridge, Shrewsbury
- Topography of Tudor Shrewsbury in depth
- Defences of Tudor Shrewsbury in depth
- Round Tower of New Work, Shrewsbury
- Lower Castle Gate or North Gate, Shrewsbury
- Upper Castle Gate or Burgess Gate, Shrewsbury
- Stone Gate on English Bridge, Shrewsbury
- Tudor and Stuart Shrewsbury: An interactive map resource for schools
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Defence in Tudor Shrewsbury
The great drum towers built by Edward I can be clearly seen in this picture. (Image courtesy of Shrewsbury Museums Service and www.darwincountry.org)
Shrewsbury castle was built out of wood in the 1070’s and was most likely rebuilt in stone in 1300. It was designed to be a place of government and a fortress to protect the Normans who built it. The town walls on the other hand were built in the 1200’s to prevent attacks by the Welsh.
The crumbling wall at the top of this 1575 map of Shrewsbury shows what a bad state the town walls were in by 16th Century.
As the years went by, and the threat to the town became less, the defences were not so important and they began to fall down or houses were built upon them, as happened on Pride Hill.
Money for the repair of the town's defences originally came from charging traders a toll to enter the town. Later it came from people wanting to be burgesses.
Two coroners, who were voted in each year tried to make sure Shrewsbury’s defences, such as the town walls, bridges, gates and, after 1586, the castle, were kept in good repair. They raised the money to look after them by charging people who brought in goods for sale through the town gates.
Extra money came from people who wanted to become town burgesses.
In the 1500’s much of the town’s defences were in a bad condition and it seems that people didn’t feel guilty over removing ‘fallen’ stones for their own buildings or for making gaps in the walls larger to allow them to take shortcuts.
By the 1600’s the towers on the walls, and the Castle itself, were being rented out to ordinary people who were then largely responsible for looking after them.