Colebridge Castle

A strong castle stood here below the hill towards Egerton, in the parish of Boughton Malherbe. Folk de Peyforer haul a charter of free-warren for his lands in Colewebrigge in 32 Edward I., and again a licence to crenellate his house there in 7 Edward II. Soon after this it seems to have passed to the family of Leybourne, who were old settlers in this parish ; but in 28 Edward 1I1., William de Clinton, Earl of Huntingdon, died possessed of it through his wife Juliana, daughter of Thomas de Leybourne. His wife outlived him, her fourth husband, and died owner of this castle as of Leybourne Castle (q.v.), in 41 Edward III. No direct heir to her estates being forthcoming, this manor, with the rest, was escheated to the Crown, and thus continued till the beginning of the reign of Richard II., when it became vested in John, Duke of Lancaster, in trust for certain religious bequests under the will of King Edward III. ; and in 21 Richard II. was conveyed to the dean and canons of Westminster, in whose possession it remained till 1 Edward VI. He granted Colebridge to Sir Edward Wotton of the Boughton estates, whose fortunes it followed down to Philip, Earl of Chesterfield, in 1750, when that nobleman sold the property, with the rest of the Wotton estates, to Walter Mann, father of Sir Horace Mann, the correspondent of Horace Walpole.

The scanty remains of this castle still indicate its having been a place of considerable strength, and Harris says that the materials of it were used to build the mansion of Boughton Place, at Chilston in the same parish. This may have been effected therefore by Robert Corbye, who built and embattled Boughton in 36 Edward III., which would fix the date of the demolition of Colebridge. (Castles Of England, Sir James D. Mackenzie, 1896)