Corfe Castle

Corfe Castle is a Grade I listed ruin of a former royal castle, situated on a natural hilltop in a gap in the main Purbeck range. It has origins dating back to the late 11th century, possibly on an earlier pre-Conquest site, and was altered and enlarged in the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries. The Keep was refurbished as a house in the mid-16th century, but the entire structure was slighted and largely demolished after the Civil War.

The castle's fortified enclosure is roughly triangular in plan, with surviving curtain walls that are part ashlar, part rough ashlar, and part rubble. The Outer Gatehouse, located at the south end, is approached by a four-arch stone bridge over a now dry moat. This gatehouse features a segmental archway flanked by the bases of two circular towers, which are linked to the curtain wall. The Inner Gatehouse, located to the south of the surviving structures, consists of two circular towers flanking a pointed segmental archway. One of these towers has dropped several feet due to undermining after the Civil War.

In the north-west of the site, the remains of the Old Hall from the late 11th century can be found, with lower walls that include some herringbone masonry and partially blocked round arched openings. The remains of the Butavant Tower, dating to the early 13th century, are located at the west end. The Keep, built in the 12th century and originally three storeys high, had an extra storey added in the 13th century. It was altered in the mid-16th century by Sir Christopher Hatton, and remnants of Tudor windows and fireplaces are still visible.

To the north of the Keep, there are large blocks of fallen masonry, and to the west, the Gloriette, a 13th-century first-floor hall house, features a hall and solar above an originally vaulted undercroft. Several lancet windows with deep roll mouldings survive. Despite the extensive destruction, Corfe Castle remains an impressive structure that dominates the village. It is a National Trust property and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.