During the de Montfort rebellion the castle was held against the king.  Edward was kept here for a time by Isabella before his murder at Berkley.  The castle then passed through several hands until the time of Elizabeth, when it was sold to Sir Christopher Hatton.  During this long period, the fabric was added to and improved until little of the Norman structure remained.  All the new buildings seem to have been constructed with but one purpose, that of making an impregnable fortress.  The widow of Sir Christopher sold the castle to Attorney-General Sir John Banks, ancestor of the Bankes of Kingston Lacy, in whose occupation, or rather in that of his wife, it was to have its invincibility put to the test.  Sir John was with the king’s forces at York in 1643 when the army of the Parliament gathered upon the Knowle and East hills.  During six weeks repeated attacks were made by the forces of Sir Walter Earle, but without success, and eventually the siege was raised.  In 1646 treachery succeeded where honest warfare failed.  Colonel Pitman, an officer of the royal garrison, admitted a number of Roundheads, who obtained possession of the King’s and Queen’s towers.  The remainder of the building became untenable by the poorly armed defenders, who had parted with their ordnance long before as a matter of policy.

[Illustration:  PLAN OF CORFE CASTLE.]

Months were spent by the victorious Parliamentary forces in mining the foundations and in the systematic destruction of the magnificent defences.  As we see it to-day, the actual masonry is practically in the condition left by the explosions, so massive is the material and so indestructible the mortar.

The sketch which accompanies these brief notes will make the plan of the castle clear, but no description can give any adequate notion of the strange havoc wrought by the gunpowder.  It speaks well for the good workmanship of the builders when one remembers that these leaning towers, that appear to be in immediate danger of collapse, have been in the same condition for nearly three centuries.  The western tower has been carried down the hill nine feet from its original position, but is still erect and unshattered.  Part of the curtain wall was completely reversed by the force of the explosive and now shows its inner face.  Whoever superintended the work of demolition must have been one of the chagrined and disappointed attackers who was human enough to vent his feelings, at much expense and great risk of life and limb, on the stubborn old walls.

[Illustration:  CORFE VILLAGE.]

Corfe, small town or large village, is picturesque and pleasant enough in itself without the added interest of the castle and the beauty of the surrounding country.  The church is dedicated to the martyred Edward.  It was rebuilt in 1860, excepting the fourteenth century tower, with its quaint gargoyles, and the Norman south porch.  From the tower, shot made from the organ pipes of the church was hurled at the castle during the siege.  The clock was constructed while Elizabeth was queen and curfew is still rung daily from October to March at 8 p.m.  Within the church may be seen the old altar frontal used prior to the Reformation, and the fifteenth-century font.  Of much interest are the quotations from the churchwardens’ accounts that are preserved in the church room.