CORFE CASTLE, a small town of Dorsetshire, England, in the district called the Isle of Purbeck, i29-m. S.W. by W. from London by the Southern Railway. Pop. (1921) 1,4o2. The castle guarded a gap in the line of hills which rise in the centre of Pur beck. It is strongly placed and its ruins are extensive, dating from the Norman period to the reign of Edward I., with traces of an earlier settlement (Saxon).
According to William of Malmesbury the church was founded by St. Aldhelm in the sev'enth century. In 1(386 the abbey of Shaftesbury held the manor, which afterwards passed to the Norman kings. The castle was held for Maud against Stephen in '139, was frequently the residence of John, and was a stronghold of the barons against Henry III. The town dependent on it seems to have grown up during the i3th century, being first mentioned in 129o. Elizabeth in 1577 gave exclusive admiralty jurisdiction within the island of Purbeck to Sir Christopher Hatton. The castle withstood a protracted siege by the Parliamentarians in 1643, and fell to them by treachery in 1646, after which it was dismantled and wrecked. Charles II. incorporated Corfe Castle in 1663. It first returned two representatives to parliament in 1572, but was disfranchised in 1832. Markets and fairs were granted in 1214, 1248 and again in the time of Elizabeth. As early as the i4th century the quarrying and export of marble gave employment to the men of Corfe, and during the i8th century the knitting of stockings was a flourishing industry.