Corfe Castle, Dorset
The ruins of a former royal castle that was built on a natural hilltop in a gap in the Purbeck Hills in the late 11th century. The Keep was refurbished as a house in the mid 16th century. During the Civil War the castle was besieged and slighted and then largely demolished. The foundations of a possible pre Conquest building were revealed in an excavation in the west bailey. This could possibly be either a 'hospitium' belonging to Shaftesbury Abbey or a royal palace associated with King Edward who was murdered at 'Corfegeat' in 978.
