Wem High Street - No 67

Year Owner/Occupier Property Useage 1850 - 1890 David Lees Gentleman 1901 Cornelius Burrows Earthenware Dealer 1911 Mr Burrows Earthenware Dealer 1927 Miss Lucy Burrows Glass & China Dealer 1930 Burrows Bros Glass & China Dealers 1940 Miss Burrows China Dealers 1953 Lucy Burrows China and Glass 2011 Castle Mound House Private Residence

This mid 18th century Town House is built on 4 floors with a Georgian facade and has Grade II listed railings.

Wem Castle

The main feature of the garden is the the castle mound.(See photo right). This includes the known surviving extent of the earthwork and buried remains of a motte castle. Motte castles were Medieval fortifications introduced in Great Britain by the Normans and they comprised a large conical mound of earth or rubble, the motte, surmounted by a palisade and stone or timber tower. It has been suggested that the castle was constructed by William Pantulf between 1135 and 1154 and used by the Pantulfs as their principal residence.It passed to the Butlers in the 1230s but seems to have fallen into decay by the 1290s. Then, under the tenancy of Hugh Fitz Aer, it was rebuilt in 1310 and remained in use into the mid-15th Century, when it passed into the Audley family. It was dismantled in about 1469.
The house gradually encroached onto the motte site. For the majority of the 20th century, the Burrows family used the ground floor as a sales area for fine china and glass- an ideal showplace for such products. The original motte and bailey was probably built in 1135-50 by the Pantulfs.There is a rumour that a tunnel exists between this house and Roden Lodge in Mill Street. Stories of soldiers being hidden in it abound, as does the tale that the vicar (who lived in Roden House) used it to go and visit Castle mound house to play cards.