Panorama of Corfe Castle in Dorset. The picture, taken from an earthen ramparts in the outer castle area, shows a good view over Corfe Castle village and the ruined gateway into the inner castle. The remains of the castle keep stand on top of the hill. The panorama was taken in September 2009.

Corfe Castle - Corfe Castle visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'Corfe Castle' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from Dorset.

The ruins of Corfe Castle dominate a hill in a gap ('Corfe' is Saxon for 'gap') between two ridges of the Purbeck Hills in Dorset. The castle was built in a very strategic position and around it grew up Corfe Castle village. Today the ruins of Corfe Castle, managed by the National Trust, are one of the major tourist attractions in Dorset.

The earliest parts of the ruins date from the 11th century, when the stone wall and inner bailey were built. There is some evidence of a fort may here before the Norman Conquest, and Edward the Martyr was assassinated on the site in 978. A church in his name stands in the village below the castle. Further construction was carried out by Henry I, John and Henry III. In the 13th century, Corfe Castle was being used as a royal treasure storehouse and prison and remained property of the crown until Elizabeth I sold it to her Lord Chancellor in the 1500's.

In 1635, Corfe Castle was brought by John Bankes, Attorney General to Charles I. It was besieged twice during the English Civil War and successfully defended by Lady Mary Bankes in her husbands absence both in 1643 and in 1646 until she was betrayed by a member of the garrison. The castle was then 'slighted' with gunpowder to ensure that it could never again be used as a Royalist stronghold, and much of the stonework was plundered by locals and used to construct their houses.

In the 1980's Ralph Bankes bequeathed the entire estate, which included the ruins of Corfe Castle, much of the surrounding village and Kingston Lacy manor near Wimborne Minster to the National Trust. The castle is now open to the public as a paid historic attraction. It is a Grade I listed building. See below for contact details, Corfe Castle is opens at 10.00am, closing times vary with the seasons.

Corfe Castle
The Square,
Corfe Castle, Wareham,
Dorset BH20 5EZ
Phone: 01929 481294

Train: Steam train from Swanage.
Road: Corfe Castle lies on the A351, 5 miles west of Swanage and 4 miles south east of Wareham.