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The
Parish Church of St. Edward
the Martyr
(13th Century)
Corfe
Castle Village, Dorset, England
| The
parish church is on the opposite side of the square from the
castle. Corfe Castle Church is dedicated to King Edward who
was killed in 978, reputedly on the orders of his "wicked"
stepmother. Folklore has it that the church stands on the
site of a blind woman's cottage where the King's body was
taken after the murder. |
The
Parish Church of St. Edward the Martyr
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In
the 13th century a large church was built for a congregation of
artisans, workers and retainers connected with the castle as well
as the inhabitants of a town sufficiently large and flourishing
to have two members of parliament.
During
the seventeenth century the struggle between king and parliament
and between puritanism and conservative tendencies in the church
was felt in Corfe. One rector was sacked for not being sufficiently
puritan! In the civil war Parliamentary gunners took over the
church, took the lead from its roof to make shot and caused no
less than £50 worth of damage, a huge sum in those days. Its decline
seem to have continued in the next century and even into the nineteenth.
By
1859 the state of the church was so bad that everything except
the tower was demolished and a new church in gothic style built.
It has to be said that the new building suits the village ideally
and after a century and a half has blended in remarkably well.
See
more about the Church at: www.bath.ac.uk/~lismd/dorset/churches/corfe-castle.html
Choose
Next to visit the Corfe Castle.
  
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