Apley Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Apley Castle is a former fortified manor house on the northern edge of Wellington, now within the Telford conurbation (Shropshire). It was a moated house arranged around an inner courtyard; the moat has since been filled in. The estate belonged to the Charlton family, who in the early 14th century obtained royal permission to fortify their house: a licence to crenellate is recorded on 10 July 1327 in the name of Alan de Charlton. In the 17th century the medieval manor house was largely rebuilt. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Thomas Hanmer, a Royalist who had joined the family through his marriage to Mary Charlton, put it in a state of defence; Parliamentary forces took and sacked it, carrying the roof lead off to Shrewsbury. Between 1791 and 1794 the Charltons built themselves a new mansion to the north-east, also named Apley Castle, and the repaired old house became their stables. This second mansion was demolished in 1955. The stables, left derelict, were restored and converted into a private home in 1996. A 1988 survey showed that they retain most of the medieval house: a hall, a service block, a solar and a first-floor chapel decorated with 14th-century wall paintings, making it one of the principal medieval houses of east Shropshire.