Corfe Castle Railway Station, @SwanRailway in Dorset

📸 by @Matt_Pinner

Corfe Castle

Corfe Castle Village, Dorset.

Corfe Castle is a fortification standing above the village of the same name on the Isle of Purbeck peninsula in the English county of Dorset. Built by William the Conqueror, the castle dates to the 11th century and commands a gap in the Purbeck Hills on the route between Wareham and Swanage. The first phase was one of the earliest castles in England to be built at least partly using stone when the majority were built with earth and timber. Corfe Castle underwent major structural changes in the 12th and 13th centuries.

In 1572, Corfe Castle left the Crown's control when Elizabeth I sold it to Sir Christopher Hatton. Sir John Bankes bought the castle in 1635, and was the owner during the English Civil War. While Bankes was fighting in London and Oxford, his wife, Lady Mary Bankes, led the defence of the castle when it was twice besieged by Parliamentarian forces. The first siege, in 1643, was unsuccessful, but by 1645 Corfe was one of the last remaining royalist strongholds in southern England and fell to a siege ending in an assault. In March that year Corfe Castle was slighted on Parliament's orders. Owned by the National Trust, the castle is open to the public and in 2018 received around 237,000 visitors. It is protected as a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Monument.

A thatched cottage in Dorset, bedecked with wisteria

'Corfe Castle in Summer Mist', Dorset, England. Photo by Andy Farrer.

Corfe Castle: the castle's position allows it to dominate a gap in the Purbeck Hills, with the location probably meaning that a fortified site had been established here long before the Norman conquest.

Corfe Castle in the mist, UK.

📸 by Matt Pinner @Matt_Pinner

The King [of terriers] of the castle…

He’d like it known it was already in ruins when he got there.

Corfe Castle & Village - Dorset - UK

The castle stands above the village and dates back in some form to the 10th century. It was the site of the murder of Edward the Martyr in 978. During the English Civil War it was a Royalist stronghold and was besieged twice, in 1643 and again in 1646. It is currently owned by the National Trust and is open to the public.

Burial mounds around the common of Corfe Castle suggest that the area was occupied from 6000 BC. The common also points to a later Celtic field system worked by the Durotriges tribe. Evidence suggests that the tribe co-existed with the Romans in a trading relationship following the Roman invasion c. 50 AD.

The name "Corfe" is derived from the Saxon word, ceorfan, meaning to cut or carve, referring to the gap in the Purbeck hills where Corfe Castle is situated.