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Shrewsbury Castle
The castle at Shrewsbury would have started its life as an Anglo-Saxon timber construction, guarding the only dry access into the town.
The Norman castle was founded by Roger de Montgomery in c.1070 when he was Earl of Shrewsbury. Domesday Book records that 50 houses were demolished to make way for the new castle and another 50 were reduced to waste to clear fields of fire for the defensive approaches to the castle..
During the reign of Henry I, Shrewsbury Castle was surrendered to the King by Robert de Belleme, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury, who had supported Robert, Duke of Normandy, in a rebellion against the King.
In 1126 the castle was granted by King Henry I to his second wife Adeliza of Louvain.
In 1138, King Stephen laid siege to the castle and captured the fortress, which at the time was held by William FitzAlan on behalf of Stephen’s enemy the empress Matilda.
Shrewsbury Castle was taken by the Welsh in 1215 and they took control of the town for many months.
In 1283 a Parliament was convened at the castle, which sentenced to death David, the last Prince of Wales.
Apart from the gateway to the castle very little of the Norman building survives. Much of it was demolished during the rebuilding and strengthening of the castle by Edward I in c.1300, when an outer bailey was also added. After this date Shrewsbury Castle was never used as a fortress and over the centuries fell into disrepair.
In 1402, King Henry IV assembled an army at Shrewsbury Castle in preparation to fight the Welshman Owen Glendower.
In 1586 Elizabeth I gave the castle to the bailiffs and burgesses of Shrewsbury and little was done to the building until the English Civil War in the 17th century, when further alterations were made.
Shrewsbury Castle was originally built in timber by Roger de Montgomery, a kinsman of William the Conqueror, in the 11th Century. The great round towers were added in the mid 13th century and, after a period of decay between 1400-1565, it was restored in...
In 1645 the castle was captured by the Parliamentarian troops and it was not returned to the possession of the Crown until 1660, when Charles II was restored to the throne.
In 1663 the King granted the castle to Sir Francis Newport of High Ercall and it remained in private hands until 1924 when it was acquired by the Corporation of Shrewsbury.
In 1992 the castle was hit by a terrorist attack by the IRA, which damaged parts of the regimental museum.
Today the castle is home to the Shropshire Regimental Museum and is open to the public.