Moreton Corbet Castle

There are two ruins on this site - a 13th century keep and an Elizabethan mansion, dating from the late-16th century.

The first stone castle on the site was built in around 1200 by Bartholomew Toret, the head of a Saxon family who had found favour with the Norman kings.

When Toret's heiress married Richard Corbet, a Norman lord, in 1239 the castle became the property of the Corbet family.

Mary Corbet who lived in the castle in the early-15th century was an ancestor of George W Bush, president of the United States.

Much of the castle was demolished when the new mansion was built beside it in 1580.

During the Civil War the two structures provided a natural garrison and at least four sieges took place here. Sir Vincent Corbet, who fought for the King, garrisoned his Dragoons here for a short time before the castle was destroyed by Parliamentary forces in 1644. The house was badly damaged by the fighting but was later repaired and the Corbets continued to live there until the mid-18th century.

The eerie ruins of Morton Corbet Castle are said to be haunted by the ghost of a Puritan named Paul Holmyard.

A neighbour of the Corbets, Holmyard cursed Sir Vincent and his family when they could no longer offer him protection and made him leave his property. Fear of the curse prevented Sir Vincent or his son ever living there.

Today the castle is managed by English Heritage.