Apley Castle

Description

Site of moat? Filled in.
A licence to crenellate and fortify their mansion at Apley was granted to the Charlton family in the early 14th century. This house was surrounded by a moat and had an internal courtyard. Its remains and those of its 17th century replacement have been incorporated into the stable at Apley. Where it is unobscured by modern work, the lower masonry exhibits the plinth characteristic of the 14th century, but above that the walls, with some mullioned windows, date from the 17th century. The house was slighted during the Civil War and superseded by a house to the NE (since demolished) in the late 18th century.
Former stable block at Apsley Castle now disused, as described above, being of ashlar construction with stone windows, largely of 18th century date but probably incorporating 17th century work, upon a base of rough-hewn, uncoursed blocks of masonry.
There are no traces of a moat.
Apley Castle. Georgian mansion with Victorian additions. (PastScape)

TELFORD, APLEY CASTLE (SJ 654131). In 1988 H.B.M.C. became very concerned with the state of the Grade II building known as Apley Castle Stables, late 18th-century buildings utilizing the remains of an early 17th-century stone mansion, which in turn was known to contain elements of a medieval fortified and moated manor house. English Heritage commissioned survey work which showed the medieval house to be substantially intact. It consisted of a hall, with a two-storey service block at the low end and a solar block at the high, next to which was a first-floor chapel whose fixtures were almost intact. It still retained an ogee-headed piscina and a two-light window with ogee-heads looking down into the hall. Its large W. window looked into the solar block, which may have been a secondary medieval addition.
The chapel included remains of 14th-century wall-paintings but these had been damaged as a result of the roof being removed. The entire S. wall of the hall had been removed in the late 18th century and replaced, removing traces of the probable oriel. The N. doorway of the cross-passage survives, as does the original centrally positioned two-centred doorway into the service block. Its chamfered jambs have unusual bottle or flagon stops. A second two-centred doorway in the same wall was added later. The hall was once lit by at least one large window but the original fenestration was remodelled in the 17th century. Despite later alterations it is clear that this is one ofthe most significant medieval houses in E. Shropshire. (Med. Arch. 1990)