Corfe Castle ( This photograph was Taken outside NT Property or Land )
Corfe Castle is a village, civil parish and ruined castle, in the English county of Dorset. The castle dates back to the 11th century, and commands a gap in the Purbeck Hills on the route between Wareham and Swanage. The majority of the road traffic to and from the Swanage area passes below the battlements of the castle. The village lies in the gap below the castle, and is some eight kilometres (five miles) south-east of Wareham, and the same distance west of Swanage. Both the current main A351 road to Swanage and the Swanage Railway thread their way through the gap and the village. The civil parish of Corfe Castle stretches across the width of the Isle of Purbeck, with coasts facing both the English Channel and Poole Harbour. It therefore includes sections of both the low lying sandy heathland that lies to the north of the castle, and the rugged Jurassic Coast upland to the south. Burial mounds around the common of Corfe Castle suggest that the area was occupied from 6000BC. The common also points to a later Celtic field system worked by the Durotriges tribe. Evidence suggests that the tribe co-existed with the Romans in a trading relationship following the Roman invasion c. 50AD.[1] The name "Corfe" is derived from the Saxon word for gap. From the 1796 Corfe Castle Census of the 96 men involved in local industries and living in the town, 55 were clay cutters. These men worked in the nearby pits at Norden supplying Purbeck Ball Clay to Josiah Oldest surviving structure on the castle site dates to the 11th century, although evidence exists of some form of stronghold predating the Norman Conquest. Edward the Martyr was assassinated at the site on March 18, 978. Construction of a stone hall and inner bailey wall occurred in the 11th century and extensive construction of other towers, halls and walls occurred during the reigns of Henry I, John and Henry III. By the 13th century the castle was being used as a royal treasure storehouse and prison.
Size: 8618px × 3543px
Location: Perbeck Corfe Castle, Dorset Uk
Photo credit: © Ivor Toms / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: battlements, castle, coast, conquest, corfe, county, derived, dorset, english, gap, hills, jurassic, norman, purbeck, railway, rugged, ruin, saxon, south, swanage, upland, village, wareham, word
