Moreton Corbet Castle
This site was one of Jamie's favourite from 2025. We'd come across it while searching for places to visit in between Pendle and Kidderminster as that was the leg of the road trip that we were on and Moreton Corbet with its fascinating history hit the spot!
The importance of the site dates all the way back to 1086 when two Anglo Saxon Thegns (landholding noblemen) lived here. These men were Hunning an Wulfgeat, but of course the property wasn't known as Moreton Corbet back then.
The thirteenth century then came along, obviously the Anglo Saxons were long gone by then, and instead an Englishman named Toret took over the existing structure and site and put his mark on it. He build a new structure and when he died it stayed in the family. Peter Toret, a descendant of the original Toret, became lord of the site, which was still not Moreton Corbet yet, by 1166 and was thought to be living on the site and it passed to his own descendants.
By 1216 Bartholomew Toret was the Toret in charge of the site and the Castle had been given the name Moreton Toret Castle. It was this year that William Marshall stormed the castle on behalf of King John of England against Barty Toret who was holding the castle as part of the rebellion against the king. It was captured, but returned later on and he clearly got off lightly as he lived until 1235 and the castle passed to his son in law.
It was at this time that the castle became Moreton Corbet Castle. Richard de Corbet, Toret's son in law, decided to change the name now that he was the owner and from that point onward the site was named indefinitely.
At some point between Richard and his descendant Sir Andrew from the 16th century, the de Corbet family lost the 'de'. The latest Corbet also deemed it fit to improve upon the existing structure and built a new manor house to sit alongside the existing medieval building. He then adapted the old gatehouse with a gothic arch which really brought it into that century and put his stamp on his family's site. Although his literal stamp wasn't added until 1579 which was the year after he died. His family added a carving of his monogram alongside the Corbet family crest. This was likely added by his son, Robert, who also decided to build on the site.
Robert built a more modern house at Moreton Corbet which was an Italian design and was really a large stately home. It is this that we see the shell of today. Unfortunately, Robert didn't see the building work though to completion as he died from the Plague in 1583, so his brothers Richard and Vincent completed the work on the manor and left the medieval fort alone.
By this point the castle and all its miss-matched surroundings was quite a beautiful site. The old bits were practical and served a function, but also were nice to look at as back in this era they tended to leave medieval buildings as romantic garden structures. With the nice Italian style house alongside the curtain walls and domestic housing we reckon the site was quite pretty, as what's left is a beautiful ruin. However, it did play its part in the English Civil War which is ultimately what cemented its abandonment despite the family being well honoured in the church next door.
The castle was used as part of the Royalist defence, specifically for Shrewsbury. It fell under siege many times and ended up damaged quite badly during the fighting. You can even see where the shot from the muskets hit in some of the surviving walls. The Parliamentarians captured the site in 1644 during a night attack that worked heavily in their favour as they were only a few men, but they tricked the Royalists defending the site into thinking there was loads of them. After that they held the site for the remainder of the war until Sir Vincent Corbet and family took it back once it had ended.
The house was repaired but soon fell out of favour by a distant branch of the Corbet family who took over the site following Sir Vincent Corbet's death in 1681 and his son's seven years later. They preferred their homes elsewhere and so it was left to fall into ruin. The family did consider building a new house in 1796 which used part of the old buildings in with the new, but it never happened and they kept it as a romantic ruin instead. The Corbets' still own the site but allow EH to manage it on their behalf as one of their free to enter sites.
We can 100% see why the decision was made to keep the site as a romantic ruin. Standing within the shell of that manor house is something truly special and peeking through what used to be the windows at the medieval structures is a rare and beautiful experience. The site reminded us a little of Old Wardour Castle but with less of a meaty structure, this was literally just the bones of the old manor, but we recommend seeing it with your own eyes!
In terms of haunting, what with the Plague and the Civil War there is bound to be something lingering here, but we didn't sense anything sad or untoward. In fact the site seemed full of energy and had the sensation of a full and happy heart. While the ruins are abandoned and are a little worse for wear, it still seems like a happy site instead of a tragic one which makes a nice change.
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