Corfe Castle (village)
Corfe Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It is the site of a ruined castle of the same name. The village and castle stand over a gap in the Purbeck Hills on the route between Wareham and Swanage. The village lies in the gap below the castle and is around four miles (6.4 km) south-east of Wareham, and four miles (6.4 km) north-northwest of Swanage. Both the main A351 road from Lytchett Minster to Swanage and the Swanage Railway thread their way through the gap and the village.
Corfe Castle
14.5 sq mi (38 km2)
1,355 (parish)
93/sq mi (36/km2)
- Corfe Castle
United Kingdom
WAREHAM
01929
The civil parish of Corfe Castle stretches across the width of the Isle of Purbeck, with coasts facing both the English Channel and Poole Harbour. It, therefore, includes sections of both the low-lying sandy heathland that lies to the north of the castle and the rugged Jurassic Coast upland to the south.
Toponymy[edit]
The name "Corfe" is derived from the Old English word, ceorfan, meaning to cut or carve, referring to the gap in the Purbeck hills where Corfe Castle is situated.[1]
Geography[edit]
The parish of Corfe Castle encompasses a broad swathe of the Isle of Purbeck and has an area of 14+1⁄2 square miles (37.45 km2). To the south, it includes the smaller village of Kingston and a section of the Jurassic Coast facing the English Channel. To the north, it includes a large area of heathland stretching as far as the southern shore of Poole Harbour, where Furzey, Green, Long and Round little islands also form part of the parish.[10] To the north west on a clear day, the Mendip Hills in Somerset can be seen in the distance from the castle. The village is constructed almost entirely from the local grey Purbeck limestone and comprises two main streets, East Street and West Street, linked at their north end at the Square.
Demography[edit]
In the 2011 census Corfe Castle civil parish had 738 dwellings,[23] 612 households and a population of 1,355.[24]
Notable residents[edit]
The village was for many years the residence of composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji.[25]