le Strange Family Scheduled Monuments
While the Family’s ancestral home, Hunstanton Hall, is a Grade I Listed Monument the following le Strange family sites are protected scheduled monuments. The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 ("the 1979 Act") provides the legal framework for the protection of sites of national importance in the UK. Under the Act, archaeological value is defined by a monument's significance, which leads to its inclusion in a legally protected schedule.
LE STRANGE MARCHER BARONS
PROTECTED MONUMENTS IN SHROPSHIRE
KNOCKIN CASTLE
Knockin Castle Mound includes the Church of St. Mary which would have been situated within the grounds of the Castle Bailey. Today, the mound is situated on private land, and impressive stone battlements can be seen in the winter months when foliage has thinned out.
Historic England Scheduled Monument
16th March 1218: Fortifying Knockin Castle - Henry III orders Aid for John le Strange II of Knockin (as Sheriff of Stafford & Shropshire) to crenalate his Manor House at Knockin.
Transactions involving the three heiresses of Guy le Strange of Alveley (d.1195) concluded 3 years later in 1198 that John of Ness & Cheswardine would succeed to Knockin. Through these settlements, John acquired Knockin and thereafter became known as “of Knockin.”
The fief quickly rose in prominence. Within a short time of securing it, John assumed the title Lord of Knockin. This is evidenced in a deed preserved in the Haughmond Chartulary, in which “Johannes Extraneus dominus de Knockin” granted to Haughmond Abbey the new chapel of Knockin, together with free access to it.Today, little remains to convey the former strength or significance of Knockin Castle. Scarcely a stone stands upon another, and it can be difficult to appreciate its once-strategic importance. The site lies on relatively level ground, about 220 feet above sea level, and is overlooked by nearby rises within easy bowshot. It is situated just off the modern road between Shrewsbury and Oswestry, approximately six miles south-south-east of Oswestry—placing it closer to the Welsh hills than Shrewsbury itself. In its day, it formed one of the most advanced Shropshire outposts in that contested border region, which likely explains its adoption as the caput baroniae of the le Strange family.
What survives is an oblong mound roughly twenty-four feet high, now overgrown with trees and set close to the roadside. Visible masonry is scarce: only a few hewn stones and fragments of curtain wall on the south-east side indicate where the keep once stood. The northern side appears to have been the most steeply defended, with a fosse about five feet deep. Although the earthworks have suffered over time, the original defensive scarp could still be traced in the early 20th century.
The entrance was probably on the eastern side, where a semicircular forecourt or barbican—encircled by an escarpment—once stood; the modern rectory and its garden now occupy this area. A small brook, a tributary of the River Severn, flows southward and divides into two branches higher up, creating a natural island on which the castle was positioned—an arrangement that would have significantly enhanced its defences.
The name “Knockin” itself aptly reflects the landscape. Derived from the Welsh cnwc, meaning a hillock, with a likely diminutive suffix, it describes the modest but strategic mound upon which the castle once stood. The local pronunciation remains “Knuckin,” preserving an echo of its Welsh origins.
MIDDLE CASTLE
On 21 June 1234, a peace treaty was instigated and concluded at, or near, Myddle Castle, then held by John le Strange III of Knockin. The agreement was made between Henry III of England and the Welsh prince Llywelyn the Great.
The treaty followed a period of conflict in which John le Strange’s father had died at Shrewsbury, after the town was set ablaze during Llywelyn’s campaign in the region.
The building stands on private land and survives today as a ruin. It is associated with the outlaw Humphrey Kynaston, who is said to have allowed it to fall into decay through mismanagement. He acquired the castle by marriage, through a connection with the le Strange family, who had held it for approximately 400 years. Hamon le Strange (my x2 Gr-Grandfather) visited the ruin in 1906 finding carved in stone above the remains of a spiral staircase, the le Strange coat of arms.
LITTLE NESS
Little Ness, near Great Ness (see below), encompasses the site of an early medieval motte-and-bailey castle together with a church. The motte would most likely have supported a timber structure rather than a stone keep. The church—St Martin’s—began as a small chapel dating from the same period as the castle, and remains standing, together with some of the orginial Norman details.
It is therefore notable that the medieval portion of the church would have served as the le Strange family’s private chapel within the grounds of their residence, a customary arrangement for a manorial site of that era. Further details will follow.
Church of St. Martin: Historic England Scheduled Monument
Castle Motte: Historic England Scheduled Monument
Gatehouse Website (Philip Davis) Little Ness Castle Mound
GREAT NESS
Ness Strange Manor House, located at Great Ness near Shrewsbury, is said to have been built in the 18th century by a relative of the le Strange family upon the foundations of an earlier medieval manor that had belonged to the family.
From this continuity of ownership and association, the house acquired the name “Ness Strange” Manor House. Today, the 18th-century building has been divided into individual flats, operating in a similar manner to a house in multiple occupation.
A comparable fate befell the ancestral residence, Hunstanton Hall, which after its sale was first divided into three residences in the early 1950s and is now arranged into four separate divisions.
