Bridgenorth is not mentioned in Domesday. The Norman castle did not then exist, and there is no reason, strong and tempting as is the site, for supposing that it was occupied either by the Danes or by Æthelflæda. Mr. Eyton is of opinion that the site of the later town and castle is included within a certain two hides of land which in the survey constituted the demesne lands of the Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, within his great manor of Morville. Quatford, not Quatbridge, is mentioned in that record in conjunction with Ardintone. “Ibi,” that is in Ardintone, “Molendinum de iij oris et nova domus et burgum Quatford dictum nil reddens,” “there is a mill worth three ounces (5s. per annum), and a new house, and the borough called Quatford, paying nothing.” In 1085, therefore, it may be accepted that the earl had a new house at Quatford, where, indeed, it is known that at the request of his second wife Adelais, and in acknowledgment of her escape from shipwreck, he founded, about 1086, a collegiate church. The foundation charter of this alludes to the mount nigh to the bridge; the latter, probably an appendage to the new house, the former possibly part of the older earthwork of what is now known as Quatford Castle. Earl Roger was succeeded in his English Honour and estates by his second son Earl Hugh, who was slain in Wales in 1098, and left the succession open to his elder brother, Robert de Belesme, who had already inherited his father’s estates in Normandy, and was Count of Ponthieu in right of his wife. Robert, who thus became Earl of Shrewsbury, though a cruel tyrant, was a man of great ability and energy, not only a great soldier, and “princeps militiæ,” or “Commander of the Forces” to Rufus, but a great military engineer. He selected the site and planned the works of the celebrated castle of Gisors on the Franco-Norman frontier. His brother’s death found him beleaguered in his castle of Balaon by Fulk, Count of Anjou, and the siege was raised by Rufus, who granted him, or confirmed him in, his brother’s Honour. When he came to England is uncertain, probably not before the end of 1099. On the death, in 1100, of Rufus, Earl Robert took part with Duke Robert, whose claims, however, were not at first brought forward. It was probably while preparing for their open assertion that he decided to fortify the strong position which rose unoccupied scarce a mile from his father’s church and residence. His decision was prompt, and followed at once by his acts. He transferred the “Burgus” of Quatford to a new town on the hill, and with it his father’s house and bridge, which he also rebuilt. The result was the borough town, castle, and bridge of Bridgenorth, the latter structure giving name to the whole as Bridge or Bruge, the distinctive “north” not being added till the reign of Edward II. or III.