By Lyn Funnell
We parked in the National Trust car park by the main road.
The lady there told us that Corfe village was across the road and along a fairly steep winding path for half a mile that takes 10 minutes.
We found out later that we could have driven there along the road to the left. But you can only park in the village square for an hour.
I won’t tell you all the history of Corfe Castle because you can read about it online if you want to.
We sat on the seats at the bottom of the castle as a group of teenage school kids arrived with a guide.
The poor man made them all sit down while he enthusiastically tried to tell the story of the castle and wake up some interest in their bored brains. But they all sat there posing to their friends with their heads down as though they thought he was an idiot, or turned away from him.
But we were interested in what he had to say and luckily the bored kids were completely silent so we could hear him clearly.
Apparently the first castle was built there for King Edgar the Peaceable in 959, although there was probably a wooden castle there before that.
Not much is known about King Edgar.
He kept the peace in England before his death in 973 and he standardised the coinage.
His wife Alelfryth was the first English queen to be crowned.
After William the Conqueror arrived, more accurate records were kept of work carried out and the costs.
The keep was almost definitely built in Henry l’s reign. It was used as fortification and as a prison.
King John loved the castle. It was said to be his favourite home. He had the Gloriette built, which was like a palace within the castle, far more comfortable and luxurious than the castle.
The castle changed hands many times until the Civil War. After a siege, Parliament ordered the Royalist castle to be demolished.
This wasn’t easy as the walls were so well-built.
But the state of the castle now is how it was left.
In 1981 Mr H J R Bankes gave the castle to the National Trust.
They are constantly working on it to preserve and improve it and new discoveries are being made all the time.
Photo by Bella Schembri-Adams
Corfe Castle is one of the most haunted sites in England.
It seems that the victims of most ghostly hauntings are known.
A headless White Lady has been seen quite a few times. She is supposed to be Lady Bankes who defended the castle during the Civil War.
Edward the Martyr, the murdered son of Edgar the Peaceable, may have been seen. He’s a sad young man in Medieval clothes and there’s a chilling sense of unease around him, sometimes accompanied by the sound of horses’ hoofbeats.
A weeping child and cries and clinking of chains are heard.
The son of the 4th Lord of Bramber was starved to death in the dungeons, and so were French prisoners in the 13th century.
Unexplained sounds, quiet whispers and eerie noises are heard all over the castle and a ragged peasant girl who was accused of theft and executed is spotted in various places around the castle ruins.
As we left, another party of schoolkids arrived. It seemed that we’d turned invisible as they rudely pushed us out of the way and barged past us.
What a pity that they’re not taught etiquette and basic good manners like they would have been taught in Medieval times!
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/corfecastle
01929 481294
corfecastle@nationaltrust.org.uk
The Square
Corfe Castle
Wareham
Dorset
BH20 5EZ
