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| Vol. 17. No. 484.] | SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1831 | [PRICE 2d. |
CORFE CASTLE.
CORFE CASTLE.
The annexed Engravings are an interesting page in the early history of ourcountry, and deserve all the space we have appropriated to them. Theirpolitical notoriety, of much less interesting character, we leave to beset down, said, sung, or set aside, elsewhere.
Corfe Castle nearly adjoins a town of the same name: both are situate inthe Isle of Purbeck; and their histories are so incorporated, that weshall not attempt their separation.
The town, according to the Beauties of England and Wales, vol. iv.p. 386, is nearly in the centre of the Isle, at the foot of a range ofhills, on a rising ground, declining to the east. Its origin mustundoubtedly be attributed to the Castle, which existed previous to theyear 980; though the town itself does not appear to have attained anyimportance till after the Conquest, as it was wholly unnoticed in theDomesday Book. The Manor and Castle seem always to have descendedtogether, and were often granted to princes of the blood, and thefavourites of our kings, yet as often reverted to the Crown by attainderor forfeiture. In the reign of Richard the Second, they were held byThomas Holland, Earl of Kent, jointly with Alicia, his wife. In the reignof Henry the Fourth, they were granted to the Beauforts, Earls ofSomerset; but were taken from that family by Edward the Fourth, whobestowed them successively on Richard, Duke of York, and George, Duke ofClarence; on the attainder of the latter, they reverted to the Crown.Henry the Seventh granted them to his mother, the Countess of Richmond,for life. In the 27th of his successor, Henry the Eighth, an act ofparliament was passed, by which they were given to Henry, Duke ofRichmond, his natural son. After his death they reverted to the Crown, andwere, by Edward the Sixth, bestowed on the Duke of Somerset; whose zealfor the Reformation was undoubtedly invigorated by the numerous grants ofabbey lands made to him after the suppression of the monasteries. On theduke’s attainder, the demesne lands of the Castle were leased fortwenty-one years, on a fee-farm rent of 7l. 13s. 4d. In the 14th ofElizabeth, the Castle and Manor, with the whole Isle of Purbeck, weregranted to Sir Christopher Hatton, whose heirs continued possessors tillthe commencement of the 17th century, when the Manor and Castle were givenby Sir William Hatton to his lady, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas, Earl ofExeter, and afterwards second wife to Lord Chief Justice Coke, who soldthem, in the year 1635, to Sir John Bankes, Attorney-General to Charlesthe First, and afterwards Lord Chief Justice of the King’s Bench. Hisdescendant, Henry Bankes, Esq. and representative for this borough, is thepresent owner.
Though this is an ancient borough by prescription, it was not incorporatedtill the 18th of Queen Elizabeth, when a charter was obtained by SirChristopher Hatton, by which the inhabitants were invested with the sameliberties as those of the Cinque Ports; besides being favoured w