Moreton Corbet Castle

Details

SJ 5623-5723 MORETON CORBET C.P. MORETON CORBET 18/68 Moreton Corbet Castle 28.10.60 [formerly listed as Moreton Corbet (Ruins of Hall and Castle) (Ministry of Works)]

GV I

Castle, now ruined. Circa 1200 and C14, altered and enlarged in the mid- and late C16 (dated 1576 and 1578) for Sir Andrew Corbet (d.1579) and Robert Corbet (d. 1583). Red and yellow/grey sandstone; dressed stone and ashlar. Roughly-triangular plan. Keep of c.1200 to south- west, C14 gatehouse to north altered in late C16, C12 east range altered in the 1560's, and L-shaped south range dated 1578. Keep: square plan. 3 storeys. Chamfered plinth, and set-back pilaster buttresses, returning to square at top and bottom (cf.Wattlesborough Castle. Alberbury with cardeston C.P. - not included on this list). Large first-floor fireplace with remains of hood and octagonal shafts with stiff-leaf capitals. Curtain wall: section of wall between keep and gatehouse with chamfered plinth and bastions at intervals. Gatehouse: 2 storeys. Chamfered plinth. Central continuously chamfered archway with remains of C16 first-floor window above. First-floor chamfered rectangular side windows. Carved elephant and castle and datestone: "S A C/1579" above entrance. East range: inserted C16 windows, and fireplaces internally. South range: L-plan. 2 storeys and attic. 1:3:1:3:1 bays. Moulded plinth. Applied orders, Doric to ground floor and Ionic to first floor, with carved pedestals (beasts at corners) and full entablatures (Doric with carved devices). Parapet with shell lunettes and obelisks with figures (now mostly gone). 3-light stone mullioned and transomed windows. Projecting bays with 5-light mullioned and transomed windows and shaped gables with triangular- pedimented 3-light windows. Small doorways in second and seventh bays with doorcases consisting of small caryatids with Ionic capitals supporting entablatures with uncarved medallions. 2-bay left-hand return front. Rear wing largely demolished. Interior of southern range: various fireplaces. One in room to left of centre with moulded surround, cornice and chamfered- rustication to right. Brick-lined walls. The architect of the southern range is not known but it might have been Robert Corbet who travelled throughout Europe in the course of his diplomatic missions and is known to have visited Italy, France and the Low Countries. The range was unfinished at the time of Robert Corbet's death in 1583. It was set on fire by the Parliamentarian force during the Civil War but a drawing records the date 1667 on one of the stacks which suggests that building work continued afterwards. John H. Haycock prepared designs for the rebuilding of the house in 1796 but they remained unexecuted. County Ancient Monument No. 137. B.O.E., pp.204-5; Colvin, pp.407-8, The Archeological Journal, Vol. CXIII, p.221 and Vol. 138, pp.44-46 Ed. Francis Leach, The County Seats of Shropshire, Shrewsbury (1891) pp.74-9; Mrs Frances Stackhouse Acton, The Castles and Old Mansions of Shropshire (1868), PP.36-7.

Listing NGR: SJ5612523131

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

260062

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Stackhouse Acton, F, The Castles and Old Mansions of Shropshire, (1868)
Leach, F, The County Seats of Shropshire, (1891), 74-9
Colvin, H M, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, (1978), 407-8
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Shropshire, (1958), 204-5
Archaeological Journal in Archaeological Journal, Vol. 113, (1956), 221
Archaeological Journal in Archaeological Journal, Vol. 138, (1981), 44-46

End of official list entry

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