Saturday began slowly and never really picked up speed. Drew had had an horrendous week. He had to mark 27 final years students compositions. They were all recorded and he had to listen to them all and give a final assessment. From morning to night, we listened to many of them while in the apartment. He was exhausted from this and having had a bad head cold all week. I on the other hand am suffering from hay fever, which the media report, is generating a google search for a cure every three seconds. There's some data for analysing Malz.

So, a slow start which means that by the time we arrive at Corfe Castle, it is packed to the rafters. That is if there were any rafters left. The castle was blown up in 1646 for being so recalcitrant as to take side with the crown and not parliament. There are no roofs left, and half the walls have slid down the hill.

This is a great example of the British Parliament's history of sentencing the punishment of inanimate objects. I know that they were really punishing the owners, however the wording of the conviction was against the castle itself. The act was called "slighting". Corfe Castle was slighted in 1646 during the English Civil War. Parliament slighted or proposed to slight more than 100 buildings, including castles, town walls, abbeys, and houses.

When back in Southampton on Sunday night, Drew told friends that he had been to "Corfee Castle". They fell about laughing… it "Corf Castle". Now I'm not game to pronounce some place names and enquire "is it 'Minehead' or 'Mineehed'.

Anyway, despite the masses of people and the carpark being full, we may or may not have been illegally parked out front of the National Trust shop near the entrance to the castle. We spent an hour walking around the outside of the castle to photograph it to bits (again). At L16.00 entry fee, it was too rich for four of us. Along with the cost of parking at National Trust carparks at Old Harry Rocks and Lulworth Cove later in the day (L6;00 each), that could have set us back L76:00 for the day ($AUD150:00).

To cut a long blog short, these costs lead to my researching membership of the National Trust. We are now members at a cost of L139:00 for the two of us for a year. Our first day as members saw us consume L36:00 on a visit to Montecute House, so we've recouped a quarter of or membership fee already. BUT, back to Corfe Castle and on to Old Harry Rocks. Similar to the Twelve Apostles in Victoria (in a sense), they are chalk formations, and the name Old Harry actually refers to the single stack of chalk standing furthest out to sea. Until 1896 there was another stack known as Old Harry's Wife, but erosion caused her to tumble into the sea, leaving just a stump. No comment!

Thousands of years ago, Old Harry and The Needles (another chalk rock formation) on the Isle of Wight were linked by a line of chalk hills that eroded away during the last ice age. On a clear day you can see The Needles from Studland Bay.

There are a number of theories about where Old Harry got its name. It is reputedly named after either a famous local pirate (Harry Paye) or the devil. The top of the cliff nearby is known as Old Nick's Ground which is another name for the devil.

We couldn't cope with the ticket machine here in the carpark. Many only allow you to use a smart phone to pay or you have to log on to a website and pay there. God help the elderly with no smart phone. We walked out to a viewing site and discovered that there was a pub with a 100 metre beer garden nearby. While Ches and the boys walked around the tack to the pub, I returned to the carpark and drove around to meet them. Again, a National Trust carpark … that will be L6:00 thank you. Here they had a van and an eftpos machine.

It took forever for our meals to be delivered by wait staff who had difficulty locating customers scattered around the field on around 70 numbered tables. They should introduce satnav or have chips inserted in their clientele.

Lunch finished, it was on to Lulworth Cove. We last visited Lulworth Cove around 35 years ago. The main street of the village is still lined by stunning stone and thatched roof cottages. As beautiful as we remembered them. What lay beyond at the cove itself was awful. Truly awful. You know what happens when a truly scenic place is overrun by tourism? A carpark the size of a football field (that will be L6:00 please), cafes and shops lining the lane ways and path to the cove itself. Packed with people. The cove is full of yachts and boats. The beaches packed with skindivers, paddleboarders (Paddleboarding is the new national summer activity) and bathers. The hillside is cut by walking tracks, with hundreds of people trekking off toward the Doodle Door down the coast. Drew Keith and I ventured up onto the western headland of the cove and they on their own up toward Doodle Door.

When Ches and I were here just before Easter 35 years ago, it was pristine. We walked the grassy hills to the west of the cove on our own. Just loved it. Now, not so much.

We did enjoy the Dorset Apple Cake. What's not to love about it. No one makes a bad one in Dorset.

There was no time left to go to Doodle Door, so we will go there in January. Apart for lack of time, Ches was suffering from the same condition that Kent has had for the last 45 years. It's called "We're running out of petrol, and we have no internet connection to find the closest service station." Drew's phone has 5G and he located one in the general direction of Puddletown. When Europcar generously gave me an automatic car, they didn't tell me it only had half a tank of petrol, and by the time we reached the service station, we had enough to get us another 11 miles. Did I hear a sigh from Ches?

Home to our cottage in The Square at Puddletown … about which there is more to tell. Later. Ches has me on a 30 minute per blog session, with three to go and its 8:30 pm.

History

Corfe Castle was built for William the Conqueror around 1086 and during the early 1200s it was a favourite fortress of King John. It remained a royal residence until 1572 when Queen Elizabeth I sold it to Sir Christopher Hatton, who later became the Lord Chancellor.

In 1635, the castle was purchased by Sir John Bankes, the Lord Chief Justice, and it was defended by his wife, Lady Bankes, on behalf of the King during the Civil War. The castle held out against a siege by the Parliamentarians in 1643 and was only defeated during a second siege by the betrayal of one of Lady Bankes's own officers.

In recognition of her bravery, Lady Bankes - "Brave Dame Mary" - was allowed to keep the castle keys.1 Parliament voted for the castle's demolition and it was destroyed by explosives in 1646, creating the ruin that remains today.

The Bankes family built a new home at Kingston Lacy and this was given to the National Trust, along with Corfe Castle, in 1981.

The romantic ruin of Corfe Castle was a popular visitor attraction in the Georgian period. It is mentioned in the local guidebooks of the time.

The Weymouth Guide (1785) describes Corfe Castle as "one of the finest ruins in Europe."2The Weymouth and Melcombe Regis New Guide (1835) states:

The vast fragments of the king's tower, the round tower leaning as if ready to fall, the broken walls, and the huge mass hurled into the vale below, form such as scene of havoc and devastation, as must strike the spectator at once with horror and regret.3

A guidebook from 1857 gives a short history of the castle and then concludes:

We recount these deeds to show the spirit and conduct of times happily passed away. These beautiful ruins bear not the guilt of those perpetrations; and in them, it may be, is set forth a moral lesson, safe to learn and good to practise: hence, in contemplating the ruins of Corfe Castle, we may realize that there are 'sermons in stones, & c.'4

What is there to see today?

• A ruined castle!

SLIGHTING

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The shattered remains of a stone building, with two walls of a tower standing higher above the ruins.

Corfe Castle in Dorset was slighted in 1646 during the English Civil War. Parliament slighted or proposed to slight more than 100 buildings, including castles, town walls, abbeys, and houses.[1]

Slighting is the deliberate damage of high-status buildings to reduce their value as military, administrative or social structures. This destruction of property sometimes extended to the contents of buildings and the surrounding landscape. It is a phenomenon with complex motivations and was often used as a tool of control. Slighting spanned cultures and periods, with especially well-known examples from the English Civil War in the 17th century.

Meaning and use

A red stone castle complex with a town on one side and open grassland on the other. While the castle is in ruins, from a distance large parts appear intact.

Slighting could extend beyond the building, and when Kenilworth Castle was slighted in 1649 the moat was drained.[2]

Slighting is the act of deliberately damaging a high-status building, especially a castle or fortification, which could include its contents and the surrounding area.[3] The first recorded use of the word 'slighting' to mean a form of destruction was in 1613.[4] Castles are complex structures combining military, social, and administrative uses,[5] and the decision to slight them took these various roles into account. The purpose of slighting was to reduce the value of the building, whether military, social, or administrative.[3] Destruction often went beyond what was needed to prevent an enemy from using the fortification, indicating the damage was important symbolically.[6] When Eccleshall Castle in Staffordshire was slighted as a result of the English Civil War, the act was politically motivated.[7]

In some cases it was used as a way of punishing people who had rebelled against royal authority, or was used to undermine the authority of the owner by demonstrating their inability to protect their property.[8] As part of the peace negotiations bringing The Anarchy of 1135-1154 to an end, both sides agreed to dismantle fortifications built since the start of the conflict.[9] Similarly, in 1317 Edward II gave orders to dismantle Harbottle Castle in Northumberland in England as part of a treaty with Robert the Bruce.[10] It was uncommon for someone to slight their own fortifications but not unknown; during the First War of Scottish Independence, Robert the Bruce systematically slighted Scottish castles, often after capturing them from English control.[11][12] More than a century earlier, John, King of England, ordered the demolition of Château de Montrésor in France, during his war with the French king over control of Normandy.[13]

Methods of destruction

A ruined stone structure with a wooden walkway halfway up the wall.

Each method of destruction leaves a distinctive trace. At Newark Castle in Nottinghamshire the use of gunpowder left a crater damage pattern.[14]

A range of methods were used to demolish castles, each affecting the buildings in different ways. Fire might be used, especially against timber structures; digging underneath stone structures (known as undermining) could cause them to collapse; dismantling a structure by hand was sometimes done, but was time- and labour-intensive, as was filling ditches and digging away earthworks; and in later periods gunpowder was sometimes used.[15][16] Manually dismantling a castle ("picking") can be split into two categories: primary damage where the intention was to slight the castle; and secondary damage which was incidental through activity such as retrieving reusable materials.[17]

Undermining involved digging underneath a wall or removing stones at its base. When successful, the tunnel or cavity would collapse, making it difficult to identify through archaeology. Archaeological investigations have identified 61 castles that were slighted in the Middle Ages, and only five were undermined.[18] While surviving mines are rare, one was discovered in the 1930s during excavations at Bungay Castle in Suffolk. It probably dates from around 1174 when the owner rebelled against Henry II.[19]

The effect of slighting

A manuscript drawing of a castle with four people being hanged in the bottom right.

After the siege of Bedford Castle in 1224, Henry III had the garrison executed and the castle slighted, as illustrated by Matthew Paris.[20][21]

Dismantling a castle was a skilled process, and stone, metal, and glass were sometimes removed to be sold on or reused.[22] The impact of slighting ranged from almost complete destruction of a site, as can be seen at Deganwy Castle, to a token gesture,[23] for example damaging elements such as arrowslits.[24] In 1268, the court of King Louis IX of France gave orders to slight a new fortification near Étampes, specifying that the bailiff carrying out orders should "destroy the arrow-slits and so to break them through that it may be abundantly clear that the fortification has been slighted".[25]

Destruction was often carefully targeted rather than indiscriminate, even when carried out on a large scale. In cases of medieval slighting, domestic areas such as free-standing halls and chapels were typically excluded from the destruction.[26] In 1648, Parliament gave orders to slight Bolsover Castle but that "so much only be done to it as to make it untenable as a garrison and that it may not be unnecessarily spoiled and defaced."[27] When a castle had a keep, it was usually the most visible part of the castle and a focus of symbolism.[28] This would sometimes attract the attention of people carrying out slighting. Kenilworth was one of many castles to be slighted during the English Civil War, and the side of the keep most visible to people outside the castle was demolished.[29]

Documentary sources for the medieval period typically have little information on what slighting involved, so archaeology helps to understand which areas of buildings were targeted and how they were demolished.[30][31] For the English Civil War, destruction accounts are rare but there are some instances such as Sheffield Castle where detailed records survive. At Sheffield military and social concerns combined: there may have been a desire to prevent the Royalist owner from using the fortification against Parliament, and the destruction undermined the owner's authority. Despite this, the profits from the demolition went to the owner, contrasting with Pontefract Castle, where the money went to the townspeople.[32]

When castles were slighted in the Middle Ages this often led to their complete abandonment, but some were repaired and others reused.[33] This was also the case with places slighted as a result of the English Civil War. In 1650, Parliament gave orders to slight Wressle Castle; the south part of the castle was left standing so that the owner could still use it as a manor house.[34] Berkeley Castle was also slighted in the same period - meaning that a small but significant part of the curtain wall was demolished, but the remaining structure was left intact, and the castle remains inhabited to this day.

The use of destruction both to control and to subvert control spans periods and cultures. Slighting was prevalent in the Middle Ages and the 17th century; notable episodes include The Anarchy, the English Civil War, and France in the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as Japan.[35][36][37] The ruins left by the destruction of castles in 17th-century England and Wales encouraged the later Romantic movement.[38]Corfe Castle is one of the most symbolic castles in all of England.

TIMELINE

The hill upon which it is built and nearby fields were occupied as early at 6000 years BC, from people who have crossed the dry land bridge from Europe. Later Celts, then Romans, Vikings and later still Saxons, all occupied Corfe.

400's ~ Following the last of the Roman legions leaving Corfe as part of their withdrawal from Britannia, the raiding Saxons made Corfe a place to settle. They too are later victim to sea raids by plundering Danes.

875 ~ The Saxon King Alfred forces an agreement with Hubba the Dane in order to cease centuries of raids and warfare. However, within two years of a peace treaty being secured, it is broken, resulting in a sea battle near Swanage. Attacked by Alfred's fleet as well as a massive storm, 120 Viking ships are sunk. In order to prevent further attacks by the Danes, King Alfred orders that a permanent castle be built at "Corffe's Gate".

978 ~ King Edward, son of King Edgar, just three years into his reign, is assassinated upon arriving at Corfe Castle to visit his step-mother Elfrida, who has arranged his murder in order to see her own son Ethelred, secure the throne. This act triggers war and with it the return of Danish raids. Elfrida has a palace built within the walls of Corfe Castle.

1106 ~ King Henry I, who had been swiftly crowned King of England six years earlier following the suspicious death of his brother William Rufus, in a hunting accident where he was killed by an arrow, defeats his older brother Robert, Duke of Normandy at the Battle of Tinchebray. He now also adds Normandy as a possession of the English crown. Captured after the battle, Robert is imprisoned in Corfe Castle, before being moved to Devizes Castle for the next twenty years, and then seeing out the remainder of his days in Cardiff.

1138 ~ During the civil war known as "the Anarchy", King Stephen besieges Corfe Castle and its custodian Baldwin de Redvers, who is loyal to his rival Empress Matilda. He is eventually forced to raise the siege.

1202 ~ King John, four years into his reign, decides that his nephew Prince Arthur of Brittany, is a threat to his reign and at the Chateau de Falaise, he has Arthur guarded by Hubert de Burgh. He then orders Hubert to have two of his servants to blind and castrate Arthur. Hubert de Burgh refuses to let him be mutilated.The following year Arthur is transferred to Rouen, under the charge of the Kings favourite William de Braose.

' After King John had captured Arthur and kept him alive in prison for some time, at length in the castle of Rouen after dinner on the Thursday before Easter when he was drunk and possessed by the Devil, he slew him with his own hand, and tying a heavy stone to the body cast it into the Seine. It was discovered by a fisherman in his net, and being dragged to the bank and recognised, was taken for secret burial….'

Arthur's elder sister and his niece Eleanor is also John's prisoner. She together with twenty-five French nights are taken and imprisoned in Corfe Castle, where twenty-two of them are starved to death. Eleanor is well treated and has William, King of Scotland's daughters as companions in their confinement.

1204 ~ With King John's loss of Normandy and Corfe Castle's location close to the south coast, he orders building work to be carried out on the castle. This work continues for the next ten years.

1208 ~ William de Braose quarrels with King John following his wife Maud's indiscreet comments regarding the murder of King John's nephew Arthur of Brittany. The King uses a debt as his excuse that William's son be sent to him as a hostage for his continued loyalty. William's wife Maud refuses, and states loudly within earshot of the King's officers that "she would not deliver her children to a king who had murdered his own nephew."

In response King John quickly leads troops to the Welsh border and seizes all of the castles that belong to William de Braose. Maud and her eldest son William flee to Ireland, where they find refuge at Trim Castle with the powerful de Lacys.

1210 ~ King John sends an expedition to Ireland. Maud and her son escape but are apprehended by the Earl of Carrick.

After being briefly held at Carrickfergus Castle,they are dispatched to Windsor and then the dungeons of Corfe Castle.

Maud and her son are both starved to death. Her husband William de Braose dies a year later in exile in France where he had gone disguised as a beggar to escape King John's wrath after the King declared him an outlaw, following his alliance with Llywelyn the Great, whom he had assisted in open rebellion against the King, an act which John regarded as treason.

1214 ~ King John returns to England after his failed campaign in France. He is met with open rebellion by his baron's over his disastrous French campaigns and his treatment of many of his nobles, including Lord and lady de Braose.

King John uses Corfe Castle to imprison his most powerful and noble prisoners.

1215 ~ King John is at war with his barons and is forced to sign Magna Carta, giving protection and rights to the nobles of the land. As soon as he is strong enough to again take on his Barons, he discards Magna Carta and is again at war.

The following year King John is dead at Newark Castle from dysentery which finally brings Cival War to and end and the release of his prisoners from Corfe Castle.

1221 ~ King John's son, Henry III, but a child when his father dies, has long been ruled by the Earl of Pembroke, during a period where baron's had usurpsed royal power. Now in his mid teens King Henry is flexing his royal authority and taking back power from the barons, including Peter de Mauley, Constable of Corfe Castle, which he is forced to surrender to his King upon suspicion of treason and a period of imprisonment.

1222 ~ Eleanor of Brittany, the long inprisoned sister to Prince Arthur, is finally released from Corfe Castle for Gloucester.

1230 ~ Peter de Mauley returns into the Kings favour and is once again Constable of Corfe Castle.

1264 ~ Under the leadership of Simon de Montfort, the Baron again rebel against the King, culminating in his defeat at the Battle of Lewes. One of their demands is that Corfe Castle is delivered to them.

1265 ~ Parliament restores Corfe Castle to King Henry's son and heir, Prince Edward.1266 ~ Prince Edward defeats de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham and with it King Henry's royal authority is restored.

1275 ~ Simon de Montfort's son, Amauri, is captured off the coast of South Wales whilst bringing his sister Eleanor to marry Llywelyn, Prince of Wales. Whilst Eleanor, King Edward I's cousin, is accepted into the Royal court, Amauri is imprisoned at Corfe Castle.

1326 ~ King Edward II is deposed and imprisoned for a short while at Corfe Castle, before being transferred to Berkely Castle where he meets a grizzly death. By this time Corfe Castle was is in sad state of repairs.

1356 ~ King Edward III ensures that urgent repairs over the next twenty years are made to the crumbling castle.

1461 ~ With the accession to the throne as King Edward IV, the Lancastrian custodian of Corfe is relieved of the Castle and placed into the hands of the King's youngest brother, the future King Richard III.

1496 ~ King Henry VII visits Corfe Castle and orders Parliament pay £2,000 for its repair and readiness for the residence of his mother, Margaret, Countess of Richmond.

1536 ~ King Henry VIII's illegitimate son, the Duke of Richmond and Somerset, dies and his castle reverts back to his father.

1522 ~ The young King Edward IV is ruled by his uncle, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, who has acquired Corfe Castle. Upon his execution the castle once more reverts to the Crown.

1572 ~ Queen Elizabeth sells Corfe Castle and its estates for £4,761 to Sir Christopher Hatton. Twenty years after his death the castle and estates pass to his nephew and heir, who gives the castle to his wife, the Lady Elizabeth Cecil.

1635 ~ The Lord Chief Justice, Sir John Bankes purchases Corfe Castle.

1643 ~ Under King Charles I, England is at Cival War. Corfe Castle is besieged by Parliament with its Lord, Sir John Bankes, absent in York and later Oxford with the King. His wife the Lady Bankes receives advance warning and is able to withstand the siege. Parliament resort to making threats to burn the houses of Lady Bankes tenants in Corfe, who had joined her in her defence of the castle.Eventually she is forced to sign a treaty to surrender four small cannon and a cease fire. During this period she is able to restock supplies and recruit the assistance from Prince Maurice and the Marquis of Hertford. Despite Parliament sending more men, cannon's and siege engines, the castle holds out as the siege is renewed.

Over a period of six weeks more than one hundred Parliamentary soldiers are killed, compared to just two in of the garrison.

1645 ~ Parliament orders the blockade of Corfe Castle once more, as it is by now the only Royalist stronghold holding out between Exeter and London.

1646 ~ A young Royalist officer, Colonel Cromwell, leads a hundred and twenty men from Oxford, disguised as Parliamentary reinforcements, to relieve Lady Banks and her garrison at Corfe Castle. They manage to make it through the lines of siege and present themselves to Lady Banks, offering her the chance of escape, which she refuses.

The siege is finally broken by an act of treachery by one of the Royalist garrison, who allows disguised Parliamentary troops from nearby Lulworth Castle, under cover of night, to enter Corfe. Lady Bankes is allowed to keep the seal and keys to the castle in recognition of her bravery. Later the same year Parliament orders the castle to be slighted, demolished with gunpowder and picks.