Filling the Corfe

This was the first assignment that I did on my course. The brief was to a write news report on the history of a building or a place on my patch (neighbourhood area). I live in a University hall of residence called Corfe house. And I wrote about Corfe castle which is totally not on my patch but quite a distance away. But I used the same name connection and wrote my story. My teacher said it was a bit contrived but he smiled and seemed pleased. I think he quite liked my idea. He said he liked the report otherwise. YAY!!!

Well what can I say, full points to cheekiness and forced connections. :)


VEENA ZACHARIAS

Filling the Corfe

An investigation into the newly built halls of residence in Poole led to the discovery of the building being named after Corfe Castle. Corfe Castle is located in a gap in the Purbeck hills between Wareham and Swanage and has been a witness to a 1000 years of British History.

Corfe Castle has survived the English Civil War, functioned as a military garrison, a royal residence and a family home. It derives its name from a Saxon word for gap.
Rachel, 17, said that Corfe Castle was mainly used for military defence, serving as a vantage point to watch the sea and warn the military, well in time, of the approaching invaders.

Corfe was a royal castle in William the Conqueror’s time but it was Henry I who built ‘The Keep’ which served as the last line of defence and was the ceremonial centre of the castle. King John built ‘The Gloriette’ which were a range of residential buildings and included King John’s Hall and Presence Chamber with a three storeyed porch.

In 1572, Queen Elizabeth sold the estate to Sir Christopher Hatton and in 1635 it passed to the Lord Chief Justice, Sir John Bankes. The Parliamentarian engineers were ordered to destroy it in 1646, after the Royalist garrison had surrendered following a lengthy seige. Ownership remained with the Bankes family until 1982. It was then bequeathed to the National Trust.

Andrew Preston, a resident of Dorchester, said that Enid Blyton, the well known children’s author had spent time in the area and that some of the castles in her adventure stories were based on Corfe Castle.

Currently, the National Trust has undertaken a major conservation programme to restore the Corfe Castle and make it safe for public access as the masonry of the Castle had begun to crumble due to the recent warm, wet winters.
The National Trust is planning to launch a campaign to raise the £5,00,000 needed to fund the restoration.

ENDS