CORFE CASTLE
Dorset, England
Corfe Castle is a village of stone and is one of most beautiful in the country. It is on a conical hill in the center of the only gap in the ridge of the Purbeck Hills. These hills separate Purbeck from the heathlands on the North. It is located between Wareham and Swanage. It was mostly built with the stone of Purbeck. It is dominated by the ruins of the mediaeval castle, after which it is named.
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It was here on the 18 Mar. 978 that a dark and devious plot to assassinate the 17 year old King Edward came to its dreadful conclusion, the Saxon King, Later to be known as Edward the Martyr, was stabbed to death on the orders of his step-mother. The magnificent St. Edward's church was built in the town of Corfe Castle. Corfe Castle may have been a Roman defense built of stone in the 9th century. As early as 1106 the site was a great fortress and state prison, 'with massively thick stone walls and steep approaches from all sides - one of the most impregnable in the Kingdom.' King John liked staying in Corfe and hunting in Purbeck. King John fortified the defences and improved the castle in the 13th century by building a fine hall, a chapel, and domestic buildings. Later Henry III built gatehouses, additional walls and towers. In the late 14th century, Edward II was kept here until he was moved to Berkeley Castle, where he was murdered. |
| Queen Elizabeth I had a supposed suiter who was her dancing master, Sir Christopher Hatton. She sold the castle to him in 1572. He then sold it in 1635 to Sir John Bankes who was the Lord Chief Justice. Corfe Castle survived two seiges during the Civil War. However it finally fell to the Parliamentarians. The Parliament destroyed the castle in 1646. It was mined and blasted; however, the huge towers only sank into the mines upright where they remain. |
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