Corfe Castle

Corfe Castle, a village-borough of Dorsetshire, in the 'Isle' of Purbeck, 4 miles SE. of Wareham. Its famous castle, dating from early Norman times, is the traditional scene of the murder of King Edward the Martyr, by his step-mother Elfrida (978); and more than twenty knights, 'most noble and valorous in arms,' were done to death within its walls by King John. In 1643 it was gallantly defended by Lady Bankes for six weeks against 600 Roundheads. Taken through treachery two years later, it was dismantled; and its beautiful ruins, with their 'hanging towers,' cover nearly 3½ acres. Pop. of parish, 1777. See histories of Corfe Castle by G. Bankes (1853) and T. Bond (1884).