Corfe Castle is on a hill overlooking the village which bears its name in Dorset, England. We and V got here by steam train from Swanage (see earlier post).
The castle was built by William the Conqueror in the 11th century and commands a high point in the Purbeck Hills overlooking the area from Wareham to Swanage. Apparently, it was one of the earliest castles in England to be built using stone.
The castle was bought by John Bankes, Attorney General to Charles I in 1635. Bankes was a Royalist and the castle was besieged for many months during the English Civil War.
In the end, the Parliamentarians entered the castle and ordered it demolished, which resulted in the castle’s current form. The stones were taken by locals to build their homes in the village.
The castle was bequeathed by the Bankes family in the 1980’s to the National Trust which declared it a “nationally important” historic building and archaeological site.
From the castle which sits on top of a hill, looking north, Poole and its harbor are clearly visible.
Looking south, one can see the village of Corfe Castle and farms beyond which is the coastline. The white tents visible near the entrance were set up for a temporary exhibition about medieval life.
After visiting the castle, we wanted to have cream tea but were too late for the National Trust tea room. So we settled for the Bankes Arms and it was disappointing.
The scones were ok but the clotted cream was just not what we expected as it came out in plastic cups and tasted heavy and blend. Well, I (Chris) lived several years in Devon and had some very nice memories of Devonshire cream tea. Perhaps, because we were in Dorset ?!
At the end of the day, we took the other Purbeck Breezer route no. 40 from Corfe Castle back to Poole. So we circled Poole Harbour once in the clockwise direction. See earlier post about the no. 50 Purbeck Breezer which we took from Westbourne, crossed the entrance to Poole Harbour near Sandbanks, and reached Swanage.
We really had a great time with V touring the sights of Dorset by public transportation.