Corfham Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Cortham; Corvesham

In the civil parish of Diddlebury. In the historic county of Shropshire (Modern Authority of Shropshire, 1974 county of Shropshire).

Ringwork and other earthworks remain of castle which received masonry, probably in 1220's. PastScape report reads 'Medieval moated site and water management system surviving as an earthwork. Remains of large rectangular building with probably four circular corner towers. Site of chapel and alleged site of deserted village.' Shropshire SMR report reads 'Castle extant by late C12, in decay in C16. Corfham Castle, a moated castle mound and bailey, is situated between the River Corve and Pye brook, upon a low ridge-end, above a shallow coombe dropping away to the south west. The site controls Corvedale to the north-east and south west. The castle mound measures 50m E/W by 46m transversley, and stands to a height of 2m above the moat. Upon the mound are traces of an Edwardian stone built castle, measuring about 30m E/W by 24m transversely. At the north west corner are turf-covered foundations of a round tower, 7m in diameter, with traces of the castle west wall running south from it. On the east, is a turf-covered mound of fallen masonry along the line of the castle east wall, 5.5m wide and 1.1m high. There are suggestions of round towers at the north east and south east corners, whilst at the SW corner, turf covered walling running Se for 5m from the end of the west wall indicates a larger, rectangular tower, the site of which is marked by a small quarry. There is a general scatter of broken masonry over the whole site. The moat encircling the castle mound is from 10m to 15m wide, and from 0.4m deep on the south to 1.5m on the north. The SW corner of the moat had been ploughed out. On the north, is a rectangular bailey, measuring 70m E/W by 50m transversely. It is enclosed by a moat 16m in width, and in depth 3.5m externally by 3m internally. An inner rampart now exists only on the north side, but there are traces of it having existed on the east and west. It is 7m wide, and 1.2m high, 55m of the moat on the n side having recently been filled in from the NW corner eastwards, and the rampart destroyed. The castle moat was kept filled with water...(via)the SE corner .. came from a stream diverted from the Pye Brook...across a meadow...The water discharged itself at the S end of the W arm ..All watercourses and the moats are now dry and under grass. When the scheduling was revised in 1995 the site was reclassified as a moated site. Corfham Castle includes the remains of a moated house, an associated moated enclosure and a water management system occupying the north end of a low ridge overlooking a shallow coombe to the south west and situated midway between the River Corve to the west and Pye Brook to the east. Near the centre of the monument is a roughly rhomboidal moated platform with internal dimensions of 32m both north to south and east to west. Its level surface stands 2m above the bottom of the surrounding moat and some 0. 4m above the level of the surrounding natural ground surface. Visible on the top of the platform are a series of surface irregularities and a scatter of broken masonry. These are the remains of a large rectangular building measuring approximately 24m east to west by 20m transversely. A linear bank of stone rubble 20m long by 5m wide and lm high marks the east side of the building. Circular hollows at the north west, north east and south east corners of the building probably represent the foundations of three circular towers each with an approximate diameter of 6m. A rouqhly rectangular quarry hollow flanked by a low bank running south east for 5m from the south west corner of the building may be the site of a rectangular corner tower. Surrounding the platform is a well defined moat varying between 15m and 10m wide, and from 0.4m deep in the south to 1.6m on the north. The south west corner of the moat has been largely infilled but will survive as a buried feature. To the immediate north of the moated platform, adjacent to the north side of the moat is a large rectangular moated enclosure. It lies orientated roughly north east to south west and has internal dimensions of 70m north west to south east by 50m transversely. It is enclosed by a substantial ditch up to 16m wide and 3.5m deep externally and 3m internally. Along the north side of the enclosure there is an inner bank up to 5m wide and 0.9m high. Faint traces of a similarly positioned bank can be recognised along the east and west sides of the enclosure. The original entrance to the enclosure probably lay at its north west angle. However there is some evidence of later alterations in this area, where the enclosure ditch has been partly infilled and the inner rampart removed. A well defined channel runs for some 120m from the south east corner of the enclosure, curving towards the Pye Brook to the east. Though now dry, this leat would originally have supplied water to the moats. A low mound south of this supply leat, orientated roughly east to west and measuring some 30m long by 20m wide and 1.4m high, forms a part of the water control system. Water from the moat system would have discharged from the south end of the west arm of the larger moated enclosure, running westwards to join with the River Corve. All watercourses and both moats are now dry.'

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SO525850

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape Defra ELS number; 111237 County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number; 00179

• Web site links
  • http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_midlands/138/corfhamcastle.htm
    http://www.ecastles.co.uk/corfham.html
• Books
  • Duckers, Peter and Anne, 2006, Castles of Shropshire (Stroud: Tempus) p66-8
    Salter, Mike, 2001 (2edn), The Castles and Moated Mansions of Shropshire (Malvern) p40
    Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses Vol2 (Cambridge) p476
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p219 [slight]
    Jackson, M.J.,1988, Castles of Shropshire (Shrewsbury: Shropshire Libraries) p21-2
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p424
    Rowley, Trevor, 1972, The Shropshire Landscape (Hodder and Stoughton) p87-88
    Oman, Charles W.C., 1926, Castles (1978 edn Beetham House: New York) p134
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Wall [after Downham], 1908, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Shropshire Vol1 p406-7
• Journal Articles
  • Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1967, 'Masonry castles in Wales and the Marches: a list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol116 p71-132
    Gaydon, A.T. and Rowley, R.T., 1965, Shropshire Archaeological Society Newsletter Vol28 p2
    Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1963, 'Early castles in Wales and the Marches: a preliminary list' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol112 p77-124
    Brown, R, Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' English Historical Review Vol74 p249-280 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p90-121] http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8266%28195904%2974%3A291%3C249%3AALOC1%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
    1929-30, Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol45 p11
    1892, Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol4 p299-300
    1889-90, Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol13 p15-16
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p413
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/shropseng.html#shrops7]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p397
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol5 p14
• Other sources and unpublished works (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • English Heritage, 1995, Scheduling Papers (Revision, 26/07/1995)
    Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission, 1983, Scheduled Monument Report on SAM 13509