The enigmatic ruins of Moreton Corbet Castle, situated besides the Church of St Bartholomew with its rich funerary monuments to the Corbets, cast quite a romantic spell over the flat north Shropshire countryside. Generations of painters, from Thomas Girtin to John Piper, have captured their melancholy form, yet whilst they are now in the guardianship of English Heritage, they remain a part of the Corbet family’s Moreton Corbet and Acton Reynald estate.

Moreton Corbet was originally a possession of the Turret, or Toret, family and the property bore their name, prior to the marriage of Sir Richard Corbet of Wattlesborough with the Turret heiress in the reign of Henry III, in circa 1239. The place was, in fact still described as Moreton Turret as late as 1516, as Mrs Stackhouse Acton noted.

The earliest section of the building, as it now stands, dates from the time of the Torets and this comprises the former keep, a pink sandstone range which stands at the north-west side of the complex. The extension of this, as essentially a fortified manor house, included the curtain wall running east of the keep and the grey Grinshill sandstone ashlar gatehouse range. The gatehouse itself, with its broad arched doorway and groove for portcullis, was evidently adapted by Sir Andrew Corbet, since above the arch is now set the sculpted Corbet elephant and castle crest, together with Sir Andrew’s cypher and the date 1579. Above this rise the remains of what was evidently a large and impressive sixteenth-century mullioned and transomed window – a great status symbol to bring the building up to date – and which survived intact as an eight-light mullioned and transomed window crowned by a pediment, in 1800, when Thomas Girtin painted the north and south fronts of the Castle.

Sir Andrew Corbet had inherited the Castle in 1538 and undertook a rebuilding which might match his ambitions. His status eventually included the prestigious role of Vice President of the Council of the Welsh Marches. His works were focused on both maintaining fashion and also providing a place of hospitality, and they included the rebuilding of the east range which had the Great Hall at its southern end.