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Corfe
Castle (11th
Century)
Corfe
Castle Village, Dorset, England
Corfe
Castle, Dorset, England
The following
segment is portrayed as a narrative from the Lady Banks...
The dramatic
ruins of Corfe Castle stand on a natural mound guarding the principal
route through the Purbeck Hills. As you can see it guards the
gap between the south of Purbeck, where Purbeck marble was once
quarried, and the rest of England. Nothing could pass in or out
without going past the Castle.
It may have
been a defensive site even in Roman times and Corfe Castle certainly
has had a colourful history. The first castle buildings would
have been built of wood. In 979 King Edward was reputedly murdered
by his step-mother so that her own son Ethelred The Unready could
become King of England. In the latter half of the 11th Century
the Castle was rebuilt in stone by William The Conqueror and for
the next six hundred years was a royal fortress used by the monarchs
of England and latterly their constables.
By 1572 warfare
had changed and Corfe Castle was sold by Queen Elizabeth I to
Sir Christopher Hatton, her dancing master and favourite. In 1635
the Castle was bought by my husband, Sir John Bankes, who was
Lord Chief Justice, as an occasional private residence. You can
imagine how nice it was to have a second home in Dorset.
As trouble
brewed for Charles I, my family and I took up permanent residence.
By 1643 most of Dorset was occupied by the Parliamentarians, and
we and my supporters successfully withstood a six week long siege.
Sir John Bankes died in 1644 and I had to endure a series of half-hearted
blockades by Parliamentary forces. Late in 1645 Colonel Bingham
Governor of Poole started a second siege, and treachery by one
of the garrison allowed a Parliamentary force into the castle
in February 1646. The Roundheads let me and my garrison leave
the Castle and then it was systematically destroyed by Parliamentary
sappers.
Sir Ralph,
our son, built a wonderful new home, Kingston Lacy House, to the
West of Wimborne and managed to gather together many of our plundered
possessions to furnish the new house.
The Castle
remained in the ownership of the Bankes Family until 1982 when
it was bequeathed as part of the Kingston Lacy and Corfe Castle
Estate to the National Trust by Mr.H J R Bankes.
Further information:
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/
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