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Homework Help: Social Studies: World History: Corfe Castle
by Kerry Short
Corfe castle is in Dorset. William Conqueror built it in the 17th century. It was built on a hill for various reasons. William built it out of wood, but it was later built in stone. It was used as an old roman defensive site.
The advantage of having Corfe Castle on a hill is that when the battle broke out, you could look out of the window and see the attackers coming towards you. Then the attackers had the hill to climb, so that would have given you a chance to get ready to fight. The disadvantage is you cannot always see them coming.
The oldest surviving part of the castle is at the top of the hill. The wall has a herring-bone pattern.
The history of Corfe
It was here on the 15 April 975 that a dark and devious plot to assassinate the 17 year old King Edward came to its dreadful conclusion, the Saxon King, Later to be known as Edward the Martyr, was stabbed to death on the orders of his step-mother.
Corfe began quietly as a Roman settlement at nearby Bucknowle, not far from some of the first marble quarries in Britain. Later, under the leadership of Alfred the Great, Corfe served as a centre of West Saxon resistance to Viking invaders. Although the site reveals traces of a pre-Conquest structure, the castle itself can only be reliably traced to the reign of William I.
Today you see a small village with a large ruin but remember that several centuries ago Corfe was a major market town sending two representatives of its own to parliament and dominating the only English source of marble. For hundreds of years every cathedral or church aspired to have a font and pillars of Purbeck marble. By the time Lady Bankes came here in 1635 the place was already declining, as the marble seems became exhausted. It seems strange now to see the prosperity of my little run down quarry village! Of course the Castle completely dominates this little village. The jagged remains still serve as a reminder of the power of medieval monarchs over their subjects.
Homework Help: Social Studies: World History
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