The Inner Courtyard

From the evidence of the ruins it is possible to reconstruct the complex changes to the domestic buildings around the castle courtyard.

Image of the Moreton Corbet Courtyard © English HeritageThe earliest surviving building on the site is the great tower, which would have dominated the medieval castle. Judging by the details of its fine fireplace, the tower was probably erected around 1200. The first-floor interior may have served as a bedchamber for the lord of the castle. Elsewhere in the courtyard there would have stood a hall and other domestic buildings, but no trace of these survive today.
 
Sir Andrew Corbet (d.1578) extensively remodelled the rest of the castle in around 1560. He erected a two-storey range between the great tower and the gatehouse. It housed a kitchen with a massive brick chimney stack, a larder on the ground floor and accommodation on the first floor.

Sir Andrew also built a new range of buildings. The openings in the outer wall are doors leading to the remains of latrines that served this range. A section of the range was dismantled later when Sir Andrew's son, Robert, redeveloped the castle.