Castle in Dorset

Corfe Castle rises from a natural chalk and limestone hill in the Purbeck Hills of Dorset, commanding the only gap through the ridge and occupying a position of strategic importance that has been fortified for over a thousand years. The dramatic and atmospheric ruins visible today, with their shattered walls and towers tilted at impossible angles of arrested collapse, are the result of a deliberate slighting ordered by Parliament after the Civil War siege of 1646, the explosions and subsequent dismantling leaving the fabric in permanent ruin. The result is one of the most evocative castle landscapes in England, a ruin whose broken profile communicates both the grandeur of the original building and the violence of its deliberate destruction. The castle had a long and sometimes dark history before its Civil War end. King Edward the Martyr was murdered here in 978, securing the throne for his half-brother Aethelred the Unready. King John used the castle as a prison and is said to have starved twenty-two French knights to death in the dungeons in 1203. The castle served as a key element in the royal control of the Purbeck stone quarrying industry, which produced the dark limestone used for decorative work in medieval churches and cathedrals across England and made this corner of Dorset economically significant far beyond its size. The Civil War siege is Corfe's most celebrated episode. Lady Mary Bankes defended the castle against Parliamentarian forces for nearly two years while her husband was away with the Royalist army, her resistance becoming one of the celebrated loyalist stories of the conflict. The castle fell only through treachery in 1646 and was ordered demolished shortly after, Lady Bankes keeping its keys until her death as a symbol of rightful ownership. The keys are preserved to this day at the family estate of Kingston Lacy. The village of Corfe Castle below the hill, its stone cottages arranged around the castle's commanding presence, is one of the most attractive in Dorset.

Maiden Castle near Dorchester in Dorset is the largest Iron Age hillfort in Britain and one of the most impressive prehistoric monuments in Europe. Its vast earthwork system covers nearly 50 hectares of a natural chalk ridge, and the scale of the multiple ramparts and deep ditches that surround the inner plateau becomes fully apparent only when you walk the circuit of the defences, a journey of nearly a mile just to circumnavigate the outer bank. The site's history of human occupation stretches back far beyond the Iron Age fort. Neolithic people built a causewayed enclosure and a long barrow here as early as 3500 BC, and archaeological evidence shows continuing activity across several thousand years before the great Iron Age fortification was constructed from around 600 BC onwards. The hilltop's commanding position over the surrounding chalk countryside made it a natural focal point for the communities of the Dorset downland across many generations. The development of the hillfort itself was a lengthy process. The original Iron Age enclosure was relatively modest, but a massive expansion in the third century BC extended the defences to their full extent and added the elaborate inturned entrances at the eastern and western ends. These entrances are the most complex and impressive features of the site, their multiple overlapping banks and ditches creating a labyrinthine approach that would have channelled and slowed any attacking force while defenders rained missiles from the ramparts above. The sheer quantity of sling stones found by archaeologists at Maiden Castle indicates that the defended community was prepared to resist attack with considerable force. Evidence of the Roman assault on Maiden Castle was discovered by Mortimer Wheeler during excavations in the 1930s. A war cemetery containing bodies showing spear and sword wounds, with Roman ballista bolts still embedded in the bone, provided dramatic evidence of the conflict that accompanied the Roman conquest of Britain around AD 43 to 44. The site was subsequently abandoned as a settlement as the local population moved to the newly established Roman town of Durnovaria, modern Dorchester. The site is managed by English Heritage and is freely accessible at all reasonable times. The best views of the full extent of the earthworks are obtained either from the air or by walking around the complete perimeter circuit, which reveals the monumentality of the construction in a way that no static viewpoint can capture.

Old Sherborne Castle is situated in the grounds of the 'New Sherborne Castle', half a mile east of Sherborne in the south west of England. The ruins of 'Old Sherborne Castle' comprise of part of a high curtain wall and its three storey gatehouse and parts of the Great Tower and the north range. The castle is within an estate of over 15,000 acres of woodland, formal gardens and a lake Facilities The castle is open daily from 10am between April and November, and has its own small shop selling souvenirs, light refreshments, ice cream and soft drinks, or visitors are invited to picnic within the ruins. Old Sherborne Castle' was built in the early 12th century as the fortified palace for Roger de Caen, Bishop of Salisbury who was also the Chancellor of England. He served as Chancellor to King Henry I, but after Henry's death there were great conflicts as to the ownership of the castle, it was seized for the crown before finally being repurchased by the church who kept it until the late 16th century. Queen Elizabeth persuaded the church to relinquish the estate to the Crown in 1592 after Sir Walter Raleigh fell in love it and petitioned her to acquire it for him. The castle was leased for 99 years to Sir Walter but he decided that the old castle did not meet his needs so he built a new home 'Sherborne Lodge' on the south side of the lake in the deer park. The castle was used for the last time during the civil war when it was twice held for the King, on the second occasion it managed to hold out for over two weeks against General Fairfax. Finally, in the following year the castle's defenses were partially dismantled to prevent further use and it was left abandoned. Although the castle is still within the estate owned by the Wingfield Digby family, it now in the care of English Heritage.

The castle is situated in the heart of Dorset between Bournemouth and Weymouth, 2 miles from Tyneham on the south west coast of England. Set in a beautiful parkland estate with views of the English Channel, the restored castle is square in shape with circular towers at each corner. The crenellated castle is built of light colored stone and has been given a new roof following a fire. The grounds also contain one of the reputedly finest pieces of architecture in Dorset, the chapel of St. Mary's. Facilities The castle and park are open daily (except Saturday) year round from 10.30am to 4pm between January to March and October to December, and until 6pm April to September. The castle offers visitors 'The Courtyard Shop' with souvenirs and gifts and the 'Stable Cafe' with its views out towards the sea, serving light meals and refreshments. The castle also operates as a wedding venue for civil marriages and wedding receptions. A visit inside the castle reveals displays, gallery and interpretation panels about the castle's history and unfortunate fire as well as a unique look at the inside of a castle from top to bottom in a very different way, with secret doors and hidden passages of the past on show. Visitors can also see inside Lulworth Castle House with an appointment. Originally built as a hunting lodge in 1610 for Thomas Howard, Lulworth Castle was used to entertain Royal guests and was later made into a country house with a grand estate. In 1541 Humphrey Weld purchased the property and added a chapel after which time it was also used by the French Royal Family as a place of exile after the French Revolution. In 1929 the castle was subject to a huge fire which totally destroyed the interior and roof, the damage was so significant that the family built a new residence Lulworth Castle House nearby rather than rebuild the castle. In the 1970's English Heritage began restoration work on the castle with the exterior being restored to its former glory and the remaining inside walls being cleaned and restored but without any further reconstruction. The Arts In 2008 and 2009 the castle grounds were home to the Camp Bestival music festival with appearances from Kate Nash, The Flaming Lips and Chuck Berry.

Portland Castle is one of England's best-preserved Tudor artillery fortresses, sitting directly on the shoreline of Portland Harbour on the Isle of Portland in Dorset. Built by Henry VIII in the 1530s and 1540s as part of a chain of coastal defences stretching along the south coast of England, it remains a remarkable and largely intact example of the king's ambitious programme to protect the realm from the threat of French and Spanish invasion following his break with the Catholic Church. Unlike many of its contemporaries which have crumbled or been heavily altered, Portland Castle retains much of its original character, and English Heritage manages it today as a heritage attraction open to the visiting public. The castle occupies a low, commanding position right at the water's edge, giving it an immediacy and drama that larger, more famous fortifications sometimes lack. The fortress was constructed between 1539 and 1541, part of the same defensive initiative that produced Pendennis Castle, St Mawes Castle, and Deal Castle, among others. Henry VIII commissioned these Device Forts, as they became known, in response to the Treaty of Nice in 1538, which temporarily reconciled France and the Holy Roman Empire and left England diplomatically exposed and vulnerable to a Catholic crusade. Portland's position made it strategically vital, since Portland Harbour and the waters of The Fleet and Weymouth Bay were important anchorages for English naval vessels. The castle was designed to mount artillery across the bay and deter any enemy fleet from using the harbour. After Henry's death, the castle continued to serve military purposes through the Tudor and Stuart periods, and during the English Civil War it changed hands more than once between Royalist and Parliamentarian forces, reflecting the divided loyalties that ran through Dorset at the time. The castle also has personal royal connections beyond its founder. King Charles I was held at the castle briefly during his captivity, and later, in a far more pleasant association, the future King Charles II reportedly stayed at Portland Castle at some point, lending it a thread of royal biography across the centuries. It served as a residence for the Captain of Portland, a role with both military and administrative significance, and the building's domestic spaces reflect this dual character — it was never purely a barracks or gun platform, but also a home for its garrison and officers. This mixture of martial purpose and residential comfort gives the interior a human warmth that purely military structures sometimes lack. Physically, Portland Castle is a compact, horseshoe-shaped structure of local Portland limestone, the same pale, almost luminous stone that has been quarried on the island for centuries and used in buildings as grand as St Paul's Cathedral in London. The walls are thick and low in the manner of artillery forts of its era, designed to absorb cannon fire rather than tower above attackers in the medieval fashion. Standing inside, you are aware of how close the sea is — the smell of salt air is persistent, and depending on the weather, you can hear the water moving against the stone quay directly below. The Tudor great hall has been restored and interpreted with period furnishings, and the gun platform offers wide, unimpeded views across the harbour towards Weymouth and the Jurassic Coast. On a clear day the scene is genuinely arresting, with cargo vessels, yachts, and ferries moving through one of the south coast's busiest stretches of water. The surrounding landscape is distinctive and slightly otherworldly. Portland itself is a tied island — technically a peninsula — connected to the Dorset mainland by the long shingle bank of Chesil Beach, one of the most famous barrier beaches in the world and part of the Jurassic Coast UNESCO World Heritage Site. The island has its own stark, windswept character, shaped by centuries of quarrying and the particular quality of light over open water. Nearby is Castletown, the small settlement immediately surrounding the castle, and a short distance away is the modern Portland Harbour, which hosted the sailing events during the 2012 London Olympics. Weymouth, with its Georgian seafront and sandy beach, lies just across the water and is easily reached by road over the causeway. For visitors, Portland Castle is open seasonally, typically from late spring through to early autumn, with English Heritage members admitted free of charge. It is modest in size and can be toured comfortably within an hour or two, making it well suited for a half-day visit combined with a broader exploration of Portland and Chesil Beach. Parking is available near the site, and Weymouth railway station provides the nearest mainline rail connection, from which local buses serve the island. The castle is accessible to most visitors, though the historic fabric of the building means some areas involve uneven surfaces. Families with children tend to find it engaging, as the combination of sea views, cannon, and Tudor atmosphere captures the imagination readily. One of the more unusual aspects of Portland Castle's story is how thoroughly it has remained embedded in the working landscape around it. Unlike some heritage sites that feel removed from their original context, Portland Castle sits directly alongside a functioning harbour, with the industry and movement of the sea as a constant backdrop. This connection to a living coastline, combined with the exceptional quality of its Tudor stonework and the remarkable fact that so much of the original structure survives more or less intact after nearly five centuries, makes it genuinely special among England's historic fortifications.

Sandfoot Castle is situated just to the West of Weymouth, on the edge of the cliff overlooking Portland Harbour. The main castle was rectangular with two storeys and dungeons. It provided a heavy gun emplacement, quarters for its garrison and underground magazines. The castle was surrounded by a ditch and a series of ramparts. Coastal erosion undermined the cliff the castle stands on, and Sandfoot began to crumble. The castle has been unstable for many years, with most of it having fallen into the sea. It is a dangerous structure and public access is prohibited for safety reasons. There used to be a wooden bridge from the gardens to the castle, but that was removed in 2003. The castle was built by Henry VIII as coastal defence against attacked by Roman Catholic enemies from the continent. He built several castles along the south coast of England and Portland Castle and Sandsfoot Castle were the first to be completed in the late 1530s. The two castles were sited to protect Portland Harbour. Sandsfoot Castle was vulnerable to attack from land and changed hands more than once during the English Civil War. The castle dungeons were used as a mint during the Civil War.