We've got a long history for you this week and lots of ghosts and skeletons to go with it.
History
Which king was murdered at the castle gates? How many times did Mary Bankes manage to defend Corfe Castle from Parliament forces during the English Civil War?
The castle that we see today was built by William the Conqueror after his invasion of 1066. Well, what's left of it. The castle was slighted after it was captured by the Parliamentarians during the English Civil War.
But the history of the castle goes back even further than the days of the Norman invasion - one source even suggested that there was a castle on this site during the times of King Arthur.
A favourite of King John's, Corfe Castle has seen it's fair share of political prisoners and gruesome deaths.
Find out more by listening to our latest episode!
Sources:
The Anglo Saxon Chronicle: http://mcllibrary.org/Anglo/part3.html
Bernard Lowry, Medieval Castles of England and Wales, (Oxford, Bloomsbury), 2017
Bankes, George, The Story of Corfe Castle, and of Many Who have Lived There, (London), 1853
Kathryn Warner, ‘The Adherents of Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent, in March 1330’, The English Historical Review, Vol. 126, No. 521, (August 2011), pp779-805
David Carpenter, ‘Magna Carta 1215: its social and political context’, in Magna Carta: history context and influence, ed. Lawrence Goldman (University of London Press: Institute of Historical Research, 2018)
Stanley C. Ramsey, ‘English Villages and Small Towns: No. 5. Corfe Castle, Dorset’ The Town Planning Review, Vol. 10, No. 2 (May, 1923), pp123-125
Matthew M. Reeve and Malcolm Thurlby, ‘King John’s Gloriette at Corfe Castle’ Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 64, No. 2, (June 2005), pp 168-185
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