Monument Type(s):

• CASTLE (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1901 AD)
• KEEP (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)
• TOWER HOUSE (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1901 AD)
• BELVEDERE? (Post Medieval - 1540 AD? to 1901 AD?)

Summary

Scheduled Monument and Grade I Listed Building: The remains of a medieval castle or tower house of 12th or 13th century in origin, which was a fortified residence, complete with gardens and fishponds, for centuries and was eventually incorporated within Wattlesborough Hall (PRN 18577).

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA6843 - 2004 DBA and building recording of Wattlesborough Tower, Wattlesborough by R K Morriss & Associates
• ESA8727 - 2018 Heritage at Risk Survey by Historic England
• ESA8621 - 2015 Heritage at Risk Survey by Historic England
• ESA8361 - 2016 Heritage at Risk Survey by Historic England
• ESA8362 - 2017 Heritage at Risk Survey by Historic England
• ESA9067 - 2019 Heritage at Risk Survey by Historic England

Description

Castle, remains of. Probably late C13, for Sir Robert Corbet (d. 1300) with probably C14 or C15, C16, and other later alterations. Dressed red sandstone; wing of roughly squared and coursed Alberbury breccia and red sandstone rubble with dressings and altered mono-pitch corrugated iron roof. Square keep/tower with wing to north-east. Formerly 2 storeys consisting of undercroft and first-floor hall, probably with former external stair to south-east; later storey added within parapet height; one-storey wing. Battered plinth with chamfered top course, chamfered string course; and setback pilaster buttresses; integral lateral stack to south-east with C18 or C19 brick stop stage, latterly used as flue for fireplaces in north-west end of Wattlesborough Hall (qv). North-east front: remains of former first-floor hall window with 2 chamfered round-arched lights; probably inserted C14 first-floor window consisting of single chamfered ogee-headed light with trefoils in spandrels and returned hoodmould; probably inserted C16 or C17 ground-floor double-chamfered square window with returned hoodmould; fireplace on first floor to left inserted when north-east wing was added, with double chamfer, the outer square-headed and the inner forming a Tudor arch and resting on a corbel to right; later inserted doorway between first floor of tower and wing with segmental brick head and brick infill above; north-west front: first-floor hall window altered in the C14 with a square head, moulded reveals and the remains of tracery for 2 cusped ogee-headed lights (see also straight joints beneath); former garderobe to left with 2 large cantilevered brackets and raking brackets beneath (now blocked with brick); probably inserted one-light first-floor window with depressed ogee head and chamfered reveals; south-east front: the roof of the adjoining farmhouse mostly obscures the second floor window with square head, panelled tracery, and hoodmould with circular stops; two small staircase windows in buttress to right; the first-floor hall was probably reached by external steps, to an entrance on this front, now obscured by the house, and there was a separate entrance to the undercroft in this front, also now blocked; south-west front: blocked first-floor hall window consisting of 2 chamfered round-arched lights with transom; rainwater spout to right with small square window below. North-east wing: formerly 2 storeys with gabled roof (see roof line on tower); south east front with central C20 two-light wooden casement, small round-arched window to right, and boarded door to left; chamfered plinth at north-east end and remains of buttress with chamfered offset and gabled top; south-west front rebuilt with corrugated iron cladding. Interior: gutted and roofless; former first-floor hall windows with round rear arches; corbel table and gabled weathering with carved stop for former first-floor hall roof; blocked former undercroft entrance to south-east with chamfered rear arch; probably C16 inserted moulded fireplace to hall; joist holes and remains of beam of later inserted second floor; chamfered Tudor-arched fireplace to former second floor also an insertion; 2 first-floor niches, one round-arched and one ogee-arched; spiral staircase, and wall passage to north-east. Wattlesborough Castle passed to the Leighton family c. 1501 and was their chief residence until c. 1711. Despite the probably C13 date the tower has the appearance of a small C12 keep. It has been suggested that Sir Robert Corbet might have built the tower as "a conscious anachronism . . . . To assert his. . . . . Kinship with the families who dominated the area from the great castles of Shrewsbury, Ludlow, Clun and Caus" (J. J. West 1981). Earlier authorities state that it is C12. If it is late C13 the tower provides an interesting comparison with Acton Burnell Castle (see Acton Burnell CP) which is a fortified manor house of the same date also with a first-floor hall, but here reached by an internal stair. There is an engraving in the adjoining farmhouse (qv) showing a former, probably medieval, wing on its site, some materials from which might have been reused. Old photographs show the tower with a probably C19 pyramidal slate roof and the wing still of 2 storeys with a pitched roof. County AM no. 126. VCH vol. VIII, pp197-8; Buildings of England, p308; The Archaeological Journal, vol. 138, 1981, J. J. West, pp33-4; D. F. Renn, Norman Castles in Britain, 1971, p341; Shropshire Libraries, photograph collection. <2>

Wattlesborough Hall consists of a square tower or keep, a low wing to the north-east of it, and an 18th century farmhouse built against its south-east wall, probably on the site of an earlier structure. The keep is square and still about 50 foot high and its thought to date from the late 12th century. There are no signs that stone curtain walls were attached to it, nor has evidence been found to support the tradition that there were originally four such towers; it is probable that any additional defences consisted of wooden palisades. There is a large rectangular moated enclosure to the west of the house,and the vestiges of an inner moat can also be traced. <5>

A programme of survey and archaeological and architectural assessment was undertaken in 2004 at the site of Wattlesborough Tower. ->

-> Although often referred to as a castle, including the listing details <1>, it is really a solar tower with minimal defensive capabilities and the site as a whole falls more readily into the category of a defenced manor house. It was probably built in the mid- 13th century by the Corbets and almost certainly part of a larger defended complex. The Wattlesborough tower would have been one part of a larger complex containing also a great hall, kitchen and other ancilliary buildings and perhaps surrounded by a defensive moat and palisade. In scale it is not dissimilar to the tower ‘keep’ at Moreton Corbet, and the two may have been built by the same family at the same time. ->

-> On at least two occasions in the medieval period, the accommodation within the tower was upgraded. Probably early in the 14th century, the original roof was removed and a new upper floor created within the masonry walls that had protected it. A new access was created from the spiral stair and, perhaps at the same time, a ground-floor access was created in the south wall leading into an attached building. Subsequently, towards the end of the medieval period, new fireplaces and at least one new window were introduced as well and, possibly, the east range was added. The development of this rather rambling medieval complex into a house of sufficient status to be the ancestral home of the Leightons is difficult to assess, partly because the house that possessed 15 hearths in the later-17th century has mostly been demolished. There would only have been two hearths assessed within the tower and perhaps two more in the east range; the other 11 must have been in the house demolished to make way for the present — and clearly smaller — farmhouse (PRN 18577).->

->The specific reference to a ‘stone upper room’, probably in the tower, could be taken to suggest that the tower was the only stone portion of the house and that the rest was timber-framed. The formal gardens probably laid out in the 17th century (PRN 07711), included a moated feature (PRN 3093). Whilst this may represent an earlier defensive site, it was most likely used as a garden feature, a pleasance in the post-medieval period. One of the more intriguing aspects about the development of the tower is the way in which it is centrally aligned to that moated feature — and the grandeur of the roof shown on the surviving early 19th century illustration which seems out of character with the farmhouse. The theory that the tower was a belvedere, overlooking the central axis of a large and formal garden surrounded by a watered moat, seems sound. However, it has not yet been investigated in the field through archaeology. It is also, at present, impossible to date. The style of the roof and lantern shown on the early 19th century illustration suggests a date in the second half of the 17th century, but it may, of course, have been remodelled after the garden was created. By that time the tower would have been a subsidiary part of the great house of the Leightons, as there is no evidence within it of any major high status upgrading that post dates the late medieval period.->

-> By the 19th century, the tower was probably being used for agricultural rather than domestic purposes and would have suffered as a result. Its grand roof was replaced by a more utilitarian one and additional crude openings inserted to serve it new role, probably for storage. The east range appears to have been retained, at least in part, for domestic services. By the mid 20th century the tower was derelict and its roof and floors had fallen in; the east range was still partly in use and then it too became derelict. <7>

Photographed during aerial survey in 2008 and 2012. <8><9>

Mentioned, passim. <10>

Makes the case for a mid C13 date. Photograph of exterior and first-floor plan of solar tower. <11>

Extra sources noted by the NRHE. <12>
Wattlesborough Hall has been modernised and much of the Georgian characteristics have been covered up or destroyed. The adjoining keep is in very good condition and particularly noteworthy as it appears to be complete, although it does have a modern roof. Much of the moat has been filled in and now only the south-west and north-west arms, waterfilled and dry respectively, remain at SJ 35411255. Published survey 25" revised. <12c>
Comprehensive description of the keep. <12d>
RCHME photographic survey, 26/02/1996. <12e>
Cathcart King states that the keep is of late 12th century date with 14th century alterations. <12f>

Sources

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