The massive rugged ruins of Corfe castle illuminated by the lights of the nearby village. Stars move across the sky at dusk. Dorset, England, UK.
Corfe Castle: Since Roman times, at the very least, there has been a fortification here to command the strategic gap in the Purbeck Hills of Dorset. Indeed the name “Corfe” comes from the Saxon word for gap. The great stone castle, the remains of which dominate the landscape today, dates back to the 11th century, and was built not long after the Norman conquest of 1066. In it’s heyday it would have been one of the most magnificent and imposing buildings in England, with it’s massive walls of gleaming white Purbeck stone visible for miles around. For the whole of the Medieval period, Corfe was used by Kings and Queens as one of five royal castles. King John kept his crown jewels here. Edward II was imprisoned here. Much torturing and murder took place. Henry VII gave it to his mother but later it reverted to Henry VIII. Queen Elizabeth sold it to her Chancellor, Christopher Hatton, who fortified it further in readiness for the Spanish Armada. In 1635 the castle was bought by Sir John Bankes, who was a staunch royalist and attorney general to King Charles 1st. The the end came for Corfe Castle just over ten years later, when during the English Civil War it was put under siege twice. At this time Sir John Bankes was away from his estate in the service of the King, so the defence of the castle was led by his wife Lady Mary Bankes. The first siege in 1643 lasted for six weeks before the Parliamentarians withdrew having lost a hundred men, but during the second siege in 1646 an act of betrayal by one of the garrison led to it’s downfall after two months of resistance. This was to be the last great siege of a medieval castle against the cannons and infantry of a modern army. After capture the castle was slighted, that is, it was deliberately (one might say vindictively) destroyed to make it unusable as a fortification. The castle was undermined, then using huge amounts of explosives it was blown up, leaving us the dramatic and picturesque ruin that we see today.
Size: 4287px × 2848px
Location: Corfe Castle, Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, England, United Kingdom, UK, Great Britain, GB.
Photo credit: © Andrew Wood / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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