posted 02-14-2001 11:47 PM           

The is some short infomation at http://www.castlewales.com/caus.html

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And the astronomyours beheldyne the constellacions of hys bryth by thare castle, and foundyn that he sholde bene wyse and curteyse, good of consaill
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posted 02-15-2001 02:51 AM         

Caus Castle is situated high up on the eastern foothills of the Long Mountain, guarding the route from Shrewsbury to Montgomery in the valley below. It was built by Roger Fitz Corbet in the late 11th century, and named after his Normandy estate of Pays de Caux. The castle was so important that the Crown took an interest in its maintenance. Henry II had it garrisoned in 1165, and a grant was made towards building work by Robert Corbet in 1198.
During the late 12th century a town was founded in the large outer bailey. It flourished for a while, but later decayed, and was deserted by the early 17th century. On the death of Beatrice Corbet in 1347 Caus passed to the Staffords. The two town gateways are mentioned in a document of 1371, and there are two references to work on towers at the castle during the same period.
Caus was garrisoned against the rebellions of Owain Glyndwr in the 1400s, and Sir Gryffyth Vaughan in 1444, but the Staffords rarely used the castle during the 15th century. It is described as ruinous in the survey of the Stafford estates made after the execution of the Duke of Buckingham in 1521, but it was repaired and occupied until the Civil War.
A new house was built in 1556, and a courthouse constructed in the barbican. Lord Stafford sold the castle to Sir Rowland Hayward in 1573, but the Staffords appear to have retained possession until Sir Rowland’s son-in-law, John Thynne, seized it by force in 1590. The Thynnes then lived at Caus and had considerable building work done there in the 1630s. In 1645 the castle was surrendered to a Parliamentary force after a short siege, and it was then dismantled. Some fittings appear to have been removed to Minsterley Hall, where the Thynnes subsequently lived. The ruins were used as a quarry for road stone during the 18th and early 19th centuries, but much masonry still remained standing in the 1830s.
Caus Castle has one of the best defensive sites along the whole of the Welsh Border. Steep slopes fall away from both sides of the ridge. The sole relic of the town walls is one side of the base of the Wallop Gate at the south-west corner, which has a tree growing on it. The castle itself is overgrown, covered in trees and buried in the debris of its own walls. Extensive remains of the bailey walls and buildings lie under the soil. At the eastern end are fragments of two large towers, probably D-shaped, flanking a gateway, and a large hall can be traced on the south. North-west of the hall, at the foot of the mound, is a stone lined well shaft.
The north side of the bailey, facing the town, has a formidable double ditch and rampart system. The motte rises steeply to a height over 40ft (12m) above the ground to the south-west. Set well inside the edge of the summit are the remains of the base of a round tower keep just over 36ft (11m) in external diameter. There are no traces of a shell wall, as claimed by some historians. An old drawing shows a round tower keep on the mound summit, and walls with round flanking towers around two baileys.