Corfe Castle - The castle on the Purbecks

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When the Normans arrived in 1066 they built the castle that we know as Corfe today. Built in a similar style to the still intact Tower of London, Corfe Castle with its huge hill , thick stone walls and defensive ramparts must have seemed impregnable. The castle even had a well within the walls that would enable it to survive long sieges.

Later in history, King John, notorious for being forced to sign the Magna Carta, also had links to Corfe. He heavily reinforced it and used it as a prison. One of his uses was to hold a rebel's family hostage - if the rebal did not surrender, the family were left to starve.

It remained in the hands of the Crown until Elizabeth I, who passed it to her Lord Chancellor. In 1635 it came into the hands of Sir John Banks, a supporter of, and Attorney General to Charles I.

Corfe Castle in Its Original State, as a Ruin,
and Kingston Hall, Seat of Henry Bankes
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The outbreak of the Civil War tested medieval defenses against Cromwell's New Model Army. The Banks family were Royalists, and Corfe Castle ended up under siege twice. When John Bankes was ordered to York by the King, the defense of the castle fell to his wife, Lady Mary Bankes.

The first siege failed after six weeks when the Parliamentarians withdrew. The second two years later in 1846 was more serious. The high hill and thick walls almost proved proof against the Roundheads, and at the end the castle finally fell to treachery when one of the lieutenants let the Roundheads through a gate.

Lady Mary, by now known as "Brave Lady Mary" or "Brave Dame Mary", was allowed to keep the keys to the castle as a sign of her courage. However, the Parliamentarians gave the order that Corfe Castle itself should be levelled to prevent it becoming a threat again. Despite the tunnels, gunpowder and artillery they brought to bear, the medieval fort could not be completely destroyed although it was reduced to the ruins you see today.