Corfe Castle

Corfe stands in the only gap in the Purbeck ridge, which is why there has been a fortification here since the Saxon period; Edward the Martyr was murdered at the gate in 978. William the Conqueror built in stone and King John used it as a treasury and a prison. In the Civil War it was held for the king by Lady Mary Bankes, who defended it through a siege in 1643 with a household of five and a handful of soldiers, pouring hot embers from the walls, and held out again in 1646 until an officer of her own garrison let parliament's troops in. Parliament voted to slight it, and engineers undermined and blew up the towers with gunpowder, which is why sections lean at angles and whole walls sit split where they fell. The village below is built largely from its stone.

What to look for

• The slighted walls - towers split and leaning where gunpowder dropped them.
• The gap in the ridge - the pass the castle was built to control.
• The Purbeck stone village - houses built from the castle's own rubble.
• The steam railway - a heritage line running below the castle to Swanage.

When to go

April to October for the best weather; the site is exposed on all sides and the hill is windy year-round. Mist in autumn mornings is the classic photograph from the road above. Winter opening is shorter.

Good to know

The castle is a ruin with no roofed interiors, and the ground inside is steep, uneven and slippery. Access is up a steep path from the village. Parking in the village is very limited, with a park-and-ride at Norden.

Nearby

Swanage and Studland lie east; Lulworth and the Jurassic Coast run west.

Key facts