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Remains of tower in Victoria Avenue

A Scheduled Monument in Shrewsbury, Shropshire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 52.7092 / 52°42'33"N

Longitude: -2.7607 / 2°45'38"W

OS Eastings: 348701.641625

OS Northings: 312664.512394

OS Grid: SJ487126

Mapcode National: GBR BJ.2F00

Mapcode Global: WH8BT.K5LD

Entry Name: Remains of tower in Victoria Avenue

Scheduled Date: 15 March 1966

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1003714

English Heritage Legacy ID: SA 211

County: Shropshire

Civil Parish: Shrewsbury

Built-Up Area: Shrewsbury

Traditional County: Shropshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Shropshire

Church of England Parish: Shrewsbury St Chad

Church of England Diocese: Lichfield

Summary

Part of a terminal tower forming the medieval city defences of Shrewsbury 210m WSW of Welsh Bridge.

Source: Historic England

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 17 June 2015. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records. As such they do not yet have the full descriptions of their modernised counterparts available. Please contact us if you would like further information.

This monument includes part of a terminal tower from the medieval city defences of Shrewsbury situated in Victoria Avenue overlooking the River Severn as it meanders around the northern side of the old city. The tower was discovered in 1911 during road works to construct Victoria Avenue. It survives as entirely buried structures and deposits beneath the surface and its location is depicted by an arc of stones set in the tarmac, part also lies within the school grounds but is not included in the scheduling. When originally discovered the wall of the circular tower was found to measure approximately 0.9m thick, stood 1.9m high and the tower had a diameter of 5.7m. It was built during the reign of Edward I as part of the ‘New Work’ city defences and its purpose was to control a natural ford downstream of the current Welsh Bridge. Having continued to be an important landmark of the city and mentioned in many documentary references it was largely dismantled in around 1797.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

City defences have a mixed survival because of subsequent growth of urban areas and redevelopment. In the case of the part of a terminal tower forming the medieval city defences of Shrewsbury 210m WSW of Welsh Bridge, although buried its archaeological integrity is preserved beneath the current ground surface and it will retain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, development, strategic, economic and political significance, maintenance, longevity, abandonment and overall landscape context.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
PastScape 1043309
Shropshire HER 01096 and 01459

Source: Historic England

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