Moreton Corbet Castle contains ruined remains of both castle and Elizabethan mansion that can be found located near the village of the same name. Entry to the ruin is free of charge with a small car park on the road. It is surrounded by flat open fields in what appears to be an uninspiring location to build a castle but once had magnificent formal gardens infront of the magnificent mansion.

~ History ~

1086 ~ King William the Conqueror's Domesday book record two Anglo Saxon thegns, Hunning and Wulfgeat's primary seat of power being Moreton Corbet , held directly from King Edward the Confessor

1100 ~ The Toret's, a family of Saxon descent, establishes an earth and timber castle at Moreton Toret.

1166 ~ Peter Toret is made Lord of Moreton Toret and makes the castle his primary seat of power.

1200 ~ Thecastle is rebuilt in stone, with a wall enclosing a courtyard, including a gatehouse and great tower.

1216 ~ William Marshall Earl of Pembroke storms the castle on behalf of King John of England against Bartholomew Toret who held the castle as part of the rebellion against the King, following his enforced signing of Magna Carta. Following the successful capture of the castle its is eventally returned as part of peace negotiations with Barons andleading nobles of the realm.

1235 ~ Bartholomew dies and Richard de Corbet, his son-in-law who had married his daughter Joanna, inherits the castle and changes its name to Moreton Corbet. The Corbets' are knights who had accompanied William the Conqueror and become marcher lords. However, they were never ennobled.

1560 ~ Sir Andrew Corbet, a prominent royal servant, erects a two-storey range between the medieval great tower and gatehouse. It houses a kitchen with a massive brick chimneystack, a larder on the ground floor and accommodation on the first floor. Sir Andrew also remodels the gatehouse. His decision, and that of successive owners, to preserve its austere and fortified medieval frontage reflects their desire to preserve its ancestral character as a castle, despite its increasing use as a luxury home. The Corbet family emblem of an elephant and castle, a symbol of strength, dated 1579, indicates that the panel was erected posthumously to commemorate Sir Andrew’s restoration of the castle.

Sir Andrew also builds a new east range, a section of which is dismantled later when his eldest son, Robert, inherits the castle.

Robert begins to transform his ancestral home into a spectacular mansion by building a new great hall and a three-storey south wing. According to the antiquary William Camden, 'Robert Corbet, carried away with the affectionate delight of Architecture, began to build in a barraine place a most gorgeous and stately house …’.

Sir Robert’s symmetrical south range had huge grid windows, a pitched slate roof partially concealed by tall gables, and rich, classical detailing. It was probably inspired by Renaissance architecture in contemporary great houses in England, with some French and Flemish influences.

The principal rooms included a great chamber and long gallery. The most notable surviving interior features are a large decorated fireplace and a vaulted brick cellar.

1583 ~ Robert dies of the plague but his brothers Richard and Vincent, who inherit the castle in turn, complete the south range.

1588 ~ The main rooms of the range look south over a new garden created by Sir Robert Corbet, include formal walks, arbours, a central sundial, and orchards. 

1623 ~ Moreton Corbet is recorded as finished and fully furnished.

1644 ~ During the English Civil Wars Sir Vincent Corbet, first baronet, fights for the king, and the castle becomes a base for Royalist soldiers under his command.

Moreton Corbet, situated between a Royalist force at Shrewsbury and a Parliamentarian garrison at Wem, functions as one of several small bases to hinder Parliamentary campaigns in Shropshire. The soldiers build earth and timber defences around the mansion to create a defensible perimeter. Despite this, Parliament captures the castle but are forced to surrender it back into Royalist hands by March. However, Parliamentarian soldiers storm the defences in a night attack in September and control the castle for the remainder of the war.

1688 ~ The house was repaired after the Civil War. But after the death of Sir Vincent Corbet, second baronet, and just seven years later his 19-year-old son, also Vincent, the house was no longer favoured by the Corbet heirs from another branch of the family, who preferred their residences at Acton Reynald and Shawbury Park. In consequence, Moreton Corbet is abandoned as a residence. Over the 18th century it slowly decayed and falls into ruin.