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The Geography Department |
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Corfe Castle
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May 2000
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The castle dominates a gap in the east-west chalk ridge that marks the entrance to the Isle of Purbeck. The gap in the hills at Corfe Castle is filled by the castle on its mound, leaving only a narrow cleft for all forms of transport south - to Swanage, and north to Wareham. This photograph is from East Hill to the WNW and shows both the road and railway that have to squeeze through the Corfe gap. |
The village of Corfe Castle is a jewel in Purbeck stone, some of the finest in the country, and is a tourist 'honeypot'. With the necessity of travellers to Swanage to go through the village, the congestion in busy times of year is well-known. Beyond the village, the landscape is of clay and then gives way to limestone, which makes up the rugged coast of the southernmost part of Purbeck. |
The village of Corfe Castle, showing its church and square.
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800CorfeCastlewide.jpg 113KB |
800CorfeVillage.jpg 161KB |
Corfe/800CorfeVillage1.jpg 162KB |
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The station at Corfe is here the host for a 4MT train bringing visitors back to the terminus at Norden. As well as trips for tourists, the line is aiming to fulfil a role as a park-and-ride scheme, easing the pressure on the route through Corfe Castle, as well as parking in Swanage itself. |
At one time, certainly in a GCSE exam question, the old railway line was one considered option for a by-pass for Corfe Castle. Just once, however, the railway has came back from the dead, and reoccupied its old track-bed and route. Here, from the base of East Hill, part of the village and castle can be seen beyond the Swanage Railway. |
The castle is a tourist attraction in its own right. Defended with great tenacity in the Civil War, its fall to the parliamentary army was followed by its destruction.
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800Corfe4MT.jpg 146KB |
800Corferail.jpg 165KB |
800CorfeCastle.jpg 94KB
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April 2006
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2304-P1030898.JPG 652KB
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A pair of view of Corfe from above Kingston, on the road to Langton Matravers. Its position as a gap-town could hardly be clearer! |
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800-P1030899.JPG 123KB |
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links |
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Streetmap.co.uk- Corfe Castle gives you a 1:50,000 Ordnance Survey map of the area. |
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click the logo for the lovely railway site! |
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