Sundorne Castle - drawn by J.P.Neale
This Mansion is situated in Wellington Division of the South part of Bradford Hundred, about four miles north-east from Shrewsbury, it has undergone considerable alteration, and presents a handsome appearance on its exterior, having turrets and battlements in the ancient style. The entrance Porch leads to a Hall, fifty feet by nineteen, divided by pointed arches, and containing two fire-places, with chimney-pieces to correspond. The Grand Staircase is of oak, handsomely carved. The Library is fifty-two feet by twenty, with a Recess, twelve feet square, in the mullioned window of which is some very fine, ancient, stained glass. At the farther end is a door leading through a cloister to the domestic Chapel. In the Library stands a very handsome silver Vase, presented by the gentlemen of the Warwickshire Hunt, with an Inscription expressive of their respect and gratitude for the sport enjoyed with Mr. Corbet's foxhounds, dated 1811. The Ante Drawing-room is twenty-two feet by twenty-eight; besides the pictures in this room, which are chiefly by Mrs. Corbet, is a very curious glass, with groupes of flowers, exquisitely painted by a Flemish artist, placed over a table inlaid with one hundred and twenty-eight different specimens of Foreign Marbles. This apartment opens with folding doors into the principal Drawing-room, fiftytwo feet by twenty-four. On a marble pedestal, at the end of this Room, is a statue of Venus, said to be one of the finest female statues in England. It was brought from Rome by the late Mr. Corbet, and Nollekins offered a thousand pounds for it when consigned to his care, on its being landed in England. The Dining Parlor, forty feet by twenty-eight, and eighteen in height, is enriched with a very handsome Gothic ceiling and sideboard. The late possessor of this Mansion was highly respected in this county, where he kept up the character of an independent country gentleman, attached firmly to our Constitution in Church and State, constantly using his powerful influence in the Borough of Shrewsbury, in its support. His hospitality was unconfined; a numerous tenantry experienced his liberality and kindness, while to the poor he was an unceasing benefactor. Ardently attached to the chase, he kept a pack of foxhounds for nearly thirty years at his sole expense, in Warwickshire; a short time before his death he went to Muddiford, in Hampshire, for the benefit of his health, where he died at an advanced age in the year 1817: his remains were interred in the family vault at Battlefield, in which church a very handsome florid Gothic monument has been erected at the east end, bearing his arms, viz. Or, two ravens in pale, proper. Crest, an elephant with a tower on his back, proper, together with the arms of his two wives, viz. Quarterly, per fess indented, or and gules, for Leigh ton, and Ermine, three fusils, in fess, table, for Pigott. It was designed by the Rev. Archdeacon Owen, and executed by Messrs. Carline, of Shrewsbury, in Grinshill stone, which is of a very fine grain. It bears the following Inscription :—
Sacred to the Memory of John Corbet, Esq., of Sundorne, who departed this life 19th May, 1817, iet. 65. He was in the twenty-first degree of lineal descent from Corbet, a Nobleman of Normandy, who accompanied William the First to the Conquest of England, and received an ample donation of Lands and Manors in the County of Salop, during the reign of that Monarch. In the same Vault are deposited the remains of his first Wife, Emma Elizabeth, Daughter of Sir Charlton Leighton, Bart, of Loton, who died, 19th September, 1797, and of their only Son, John Kynaston Corbet, who died, 23rd April, 1806, st. 15. This Monument is erected by his second Wife, Anne, Daughter of the Rev. W. Pigott, M. A., Rector of Edgmond and Chetwynd, as a tribute of gratitude and affection to the best of Husbands, the remembrance of whose virtues is deeply en- graven on her heart.
Battlefield Church stands on the ground where Henry Percy, the eldest son of the Earl of Northumberland, better known as Hotspur, was encamped previous to the decisive battle fought between him and Henry IV., 21st July, 1403, on the Eve of St. Mary Magdalen, to whom the Church erected by Henry IV., in gratitude for the victory, was dedicated. Within the grounds at Sundorne are the ruins of Haughmond Abbey, now carefully preserved from farther devastation. They stand on a rising ground, backed by an extensive forest. In front is a rich view over the great plain of Shrewsbury, including the Town and Castle, which are almost encircled by the Severn. On Haughmond Hill Earl Douglas was taken prisoner, on his flight from the Battle of Shrewsbury, his horse falling when descending the Hill. The country is here very fertile, and remarkably well cultivated.
Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland - Second Series Volume 3, by J.P.Neale 1826