Description
Corfe Castle, a small town and a parish in Dorsetshire. The town stands adjacent to the central gap of the Isle of Purbeck range of hills, with a station on the L. & S.W.R., 126 miles from London. A famous castle here dates from the Saxon times, and was for many centuries one of the strongest fortresses in the kingdom. It belonged to the Crown, was given in the time of Elizabeth to Sir Christopher Hatton, passed in 1635 to Sir John Bankes, attorney-general to Charles I., and belongs now to the Bankeses of Kingston Lacy. Edward the Martyr was murdered in it by his step-mother, Peter the Hermit was incarcerated here, twenty-two noblemen were starved in the dungeons by King John, and Edward II. was imprisoned in it some time before his murder; while Lady bankes, with slight assistance, defended it for Charles I., against a siege of six weeks in 1643, and Fairfax beseiged, captured, and dismantled it in 1646. The ruins crown a steep rocky knoll, are approached by a four-arched bridge across a chasm, present a butting, massive, picturesque appearance; include a keep, a chapel, and several towers, and present features of architecture of almost every date and transition from the time of Edgar till that of Henry VII. The town consists of two long streets of picturesque stone cottages, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Wareham, a market-cross, a parish church, two dissenting chapels, a museum, and a good hotel. The church is Early English, with a large tower, and excepting the tower was rebuilt in 1860. The chief trade is connected with the exproting of potter's clay from neighbouring pits, and fairs are held on 12 May and 29 Oct. The town, which is no longer corporate, sent two members to Parliament till dis-franchised by the Act of 1832. Acreage of parish, 8932 of land, and 1570 of foreshore; population, 1708. Nine Barrow Down, extending eastward from the town, is 642 feet high, and commands a very brilliant view. Creech Barrow, extending north-westward, is 369 feet high, and also commands a noble prospect. Potter's clay, to the amount of upwards of 60,000 tons a year, is dug and exported, and a railway for conveying it goes from the pits to Wareham harbour. The grey and variegated fine limestone known as Purbeck marble also was till very recently quarried and exported on a large scale. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £680. There is a chapel of ease at Kingston and licenced schoolrooms at Norden and Bushey.
Parish Church
The church of St. Edward the Martyr, rebuilt, with the exception of the tower, in 1859-1860, from designs by Wyatt, is of stone, in the Early English and Perpendicular styles, and consists of chancel with aisles, nave, aisles, north porch and an ancient embattled western tower with pinnacles containing a clock and 6 bells: the stained east window is a memorial to Lady Charlotte Bankes, and there are eight other memorial windows, including one to Captain Sir George Biddlecombe: the fine reredos, designed by the late G.E. Street R.A. was the gift of the Earl of Eldon: the ancient font is of Purbeck marble: the church has 600 sittings.
The register of baptisms dates from the year 1653, and marriages and burials, 1695.
Photographs
The following pictures of Corfe Castle have been kindly provided by Tim Sandberg
Villages, Hamlets, &c.
Orchard, East and West, two places in the SE of Dorsetshire, 1 mile SW of Corfe Castle.
Kingston, an ecclesiastical parish in Dorsetshire. It was formerly a chapelry, but was separated from the mother parish of Corfe Castle in 1877. In ancient documents it was called Kingston Abbess, the manor having belonged to the Abbess of Shaftesbury. The village stands 1 1/2 mile from Corfe Castle station on the L. & S.W.R. It is pleasantly situated on an eminence, and has a post office under Wareham; money order and telegraph office, Corfe Castle. Population of ecclesiastical parish, 405. By the Parish Councils Act, Kingston is joined with Corfe Castle. Encombe, the seat of the Earl of Eldon, is a splendid mansion of Purbeck stone, standing in large and tastefully laid-out grounds, and commanding a noble view of the English Channel. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; gross value, £350 with residence. Patron, the Earl of Eldon. The church is a very handsome structure of stone in the Early English style, and was erected during the years 1874 to 1880, at the sole cost of the Earl of Eldon. The interior is richly decorated. There is a small Wesleyan chapel.
Newton, a hamlet in the SE of Dorsetshire, 4 1/2 miles SE of Corfe Castle.
Ower, a tithing in Corfe Castle parish, Dorsetshire, near Corfe Castle.
Rollington, a tithing in Corfe Castle parish, Dorsetshire, near Corfe Castle.
