Lost Shrewsbury chapel remains hidden as team 'digs in the wrong castle'
Archaeologists searching for a medieval chapel found they were digging in the wrong castle - but made some interesting discoveries.
The second season of excavations at Shrewsbury Castle, funded by the Castle Studies Trust finished last Friday.
The team, including lead archaeologist Dr Nigel Baker and University Centre Shrewsbury heritage experts Professor Tim Jenkins and Dr Morn Capper, have been reviewing the findings.
Dr Baker said: “We were perplexed to find no sign of the natural gravel hilltop in this year’s excavation, despite going more than two metres deep. The answer has dawned on us slowly. The familiar face of Shrewsbury Castle seen from the front of the station and from Castle Gates and the Dana is in fact the second Shrewsbury Castle. It probably dates to just after 1200AD. But the first Shrewsbury Castle, which would have been familiar to William the Conqueror, was about 25 per cent smaller.
"It was confined to the hilltop and, though smaller, was absolutely bristling with defences – as we found in 2019.
“That’s why we didn’t find the chapel of St Michael: that was within the first castle perimeter – we were digging in the wrong castle!
“Around the year 1200, and we need our pottery specialist to confirm the dating, there was a huge expansion programme, during which the familiar sandstone walls with their battlements were built lower down the hillside. The slope behind was then levelled up with landfill.”
