CASTLES SHREWSBURY

Moreton Corbet Castle is a ruined medieval fortress with Elizabethan manor house remains located seven miles northeast of Shrewsbury in Shropshire, England, reflecting over 500 years of continuous building and modification. The Corbet family acquired the site in the 13th century and rebuilt extensively around 1560, with Sir Andrew Corbet creating a new east range and his son Robert adding an ornate south wing designed in an L-shape. During the English Civil Wars, the castle served as a Royalist stronghold under Sir Vincent Corbet until Parliamentarian forces captured it in a night attack in September 1644. Now managed by English Heritage, the atmospheric ruins remain freely accessible with interpretive panels explaining the site's complex architectural and military history.

Acton Burnell Castle is a ruined 13th-century fortified manor south of Shrewsbury in Shropshire, built around 1284 by Robert Burnell, a powerful landowner and close friend of King Edward I who served as Chancellor of England and Bishop of Bath & Wells. The fortress originally featured walls standing to 40 feet high with three-storey towers at each corner, demonstrating the wealth and influence of its builder. The castle hosted two parliaments in 1283 and 1285, highlighting its importance as a seat of power. By 1420 it was abandoned in favour of the newly built Acton Burnell Hall nearby. Today visitors can access the castle remains through a wooded walk, with the outer shell and gable ends of the barn providing insight into medieval aristocratic life and fortified domestic architecture.

Shrewsbury Castle crowns a hill overlooking the River Severn in Shropshire's market town center, its fortifications dating to 1074 in the wake of Norman settlement. This strategically important royal fortress witnessed nearly 300 years of military and political significance before declining under the Tudors. Today the castle grounds provide free public access while the interior hosts the Soldiers of Shropshire Museum, showcasing three centuries of British Army evolution through the campaigns, uniforms, medals and weapons of Shropshire regiments. The museum traces the formation of the Light Infantry, Rifles regiments, and Shropshire Yeomanry Squadron, making the site both a landmark of medieval military architecture and a working repository of regional military heritage.

Castle Pulverbatch is a well-preserved motte and double bailey earthwork castle positioned at the northern end of a steep-sided ridge overlooking the village of Pulverbatch in Shropshire. Built in the late 11th century, likely by Roger Venator or his son, this Norman stronghold occupies a site that commands an ancient route from Shrewsbury to Bishops Castle. The castle's earthwork remains consist of a circular motte surrounded by a ditch, with an inner bailey to the northeast and a larger outer bailey to the northwest. Despite remaining earth and timber in construction throughout its life, the site survives in very good condition, offering visitors a rare glimpse into medieval fortification techniques from the Norman period.