Acton Burnell Castle

Performance Spaces

Overview

History

Bibliographic Sources

Events
Legend
map legend

Base layers

Data layers

Other Images

18th c. view
Main view
N wall
View from the S
Tag this record 

Venue Type & Location

Private Residence

Site Name: Acton Burnell Castle
Location: near Shrewsbury
County: Shropshire
Location Type: Town - near town at determined location
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/

Performance Spaces

Hall

Overview

Located in the Severn Valley plain 8 miles SE of Shrewsbury near the Roman road from Church Stretton to Wroxeter.

The shell of the residential wing of a fortified red sandstone manor house remains, built on a central block plan with 4 square angle towers. The S wall and NE tower are ruinous. A smaller block projects from the W side between the towers.

Evidence of a moat has been found but other buildings in the original plan, probably including a great hall and service rooms, are long gone: '...this self-contained block of private apartments is only part of Burnell's residence. The extent and scale of the rest of this fortified house is not known, but it would have included a great hall, kitchen, services, and rooms for guests, clerks, and servants grouped around a courtyard with stables and stores, all surrounded by an outer wall and moat' (Emery, Greater Medieval Houses 2.503).

Performance History

A Shrewsbury bailiffs' account records payment given to Lord Burnell's entertainers at Acton Burnell in 1388/9.

Current Status

Now an English Heritage ruin open to the public at specified times.

History of the Venue

1284 Licence to crenellate granted to Robert Burnell, Bishop of Bath and Wells. Permission granted to cut royal timber for construction.

ca. 1316 Acquired via marriage by Sir John de Haudlo, second husband of Maud Burnell.

ca. 1428 Held by Sir John Radcliffe via marriage.

1452 Inherited by William, 7th Baron Lovell (of Titchmarsh), descendant of Maud Burnell by her first husband.

1485 Forfeited to the Crown by 1st Viscount Lovel and granted to Jasper Tudor, 3rd Duke of Bedford, the next year.

by 1498 Held by Henry Tudor, Duke of York and later Henry VIII.

1514 Granted to Thomas Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk.

1533 Sold to Sir John Dudley.

1542 Sold to Fulk Crompton of Cound, Shropshire.

1597 Sold to Richard and George Hopton.

1609 Sold to Sir George Hayward.

1617 Sold to Humphrey Lee of Langley.

1660 Inherited by Mary Lee, wife of Edward Smythe.

1672 Smythe family relocated to Langley Hall.

1731--86 S half of castle converted as a barn. Pyramid roofs placed on SW tower and W block. NE angle tower containing the chapel demolished.

1892--1900 Farm buildings removed.

1914 NW tower collapsed in a storm.

1934 Sir Edward Smythe placed the castle in the care of the Ministry of Works.

Record Source

REED Shropshire 1.127

Patrons who owned this venue

Name Dates Titles
Burnell, Hugh 1347-1420 3rd Baron

Bibliographic Sources

View a list of abbreviations.

  • Acton, Frances Stackhouse. The Castles & Old Mansions of Shropshire. Shrewsbury: Leake & Evans, 1868.
  • Buck, Samuel, and Nathaniel Buck. [A Collection of Engravings of the Castles, Abbeys, and Towns in England and Wales]. 5 vols. London: The authors, 1726–52.
  • Emery, Anthony. Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales 1300–1500. 3 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996–2006.
  • Jackson, Michael. Castles of Shropshire. Shrewsbury: Shropshire Libraries, 1988.
  • Leach, Francis, ed. The County Seats of Shropshire; A Series of Descriptive Sketches with Historical and Antiquarian Notes of the Principal Family Mansions. Shrewsbury: Eddowes's Shrewsbury Journal, 1891.
  • Mackenzie, James D. The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure. 2 vols. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1896.
  • Oman, Charles W.C. Castles. London: The Great Western Railway, 1926.
  • Page, William, A.T. Gaydon and G.C. Baugh, eds. The Victoria History of the County of Shropshire. Victoria History of the Counties of England. 11 vols. London: Archibald Constable, U of London, 1908–98.
  • Pettifer, Adrian. English Castles: A Guide by Counties. Woodbridge: The Boydell P, 1995.
  • Pevsner, Nikolaus. Shropshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth, Midd: Penguin Books, 1958.
  • Radford, C.A. Ralegh. Acton Burnell Castle. London: HMSO, 1957.
  • Reid, Peter, ed. Burke's and Savill's Guide to Country Houses. 3 vols. London: Burke's Peerage, 1980.
  • Salter, Mike. The Castles and Moated Mansions of Shropshire. Malvern, Worc: Folly Publications, 1988.
  • Somerset Fry, Plantagenet. Castles of the British Isles. New York: Dorset P, 1990.
  • Thompson, Michael. Medieval Bishops' Houses in England and Wales. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998.
  • Turner, Thomas Hudson, and John Henry Parker. Some Account of Domestic Architecture in England, from Richard II. to Henry VIII. 3 vols (vol 3 in 2 pts). Oxford: John Henry and James Parker, 1851–9.
  • West, J.J. 'Acton Burnell Church and Castle.' Archaeological Journal 138 (1981): 31–2.
  • West, Jeffrey. 'Acton Burnell Castle, Shropshire' . Collectanea Historica: Essays in Memory of Stuart Rigold. Alec Detsicas. Maidstone: Kent Archaeological Society, 1981.
  • West, Jeffrey. 'Acton Burnell Castle, Shropshire.' . Collectanea Historica: Essays in memory of Stuart Rigold. Detsicas, Alec, ed. Maidstone: Kent Archaeological Society, 1981.
  • Wilson, David M., and D. Gillian Hurst. 'Medieval Britain in 1962 and 1963.' Medieval Archaeology 8 (1964): 231–99.
  • Wood, Margaret. The English Mediaeval House. New York: Harper Colophon, 1965.