Corfe Castle , Dorset 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 some eight kilometres ( five miles ) south - east of Wareham , and the same distance west of Swanage . Both the current main A351 road Lytchett Minster to Swanage and the Swanage Railway thread their way through the gap and the village . 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 . History . Burial mounds around the common of Corfe Castle suggest that the area was occupied from 6000BC . The common also points to a later Celtic field system worked by the Durotriges tribe . Evidence suggests that the tribe co - existed with the Romans in a trading relationship following the Roman invasion c . 50AD . The name " Corfe " is derived from the Saxon word for gap . From the 1796 Corfe Castle Census of the 96 men involved in local industries and living in the town , 55 were clay cutters . These men worked in the nearby pits at Norden supplying Purbeck Ball Clay to Josiah Wedgwood and other pottery manufacturers . Clay extraction continued to provide a major employment for the local population until the 20th century . William Pike signed a contract with Josiah Wedgwood in 1791 whilst living in the Market Square with his workers that he had brought with him from Chudleigh in Devon some years earlier . Geography . The parish of Corfe Castle ( area 37 . 45 km² ) encompasses a broad swath of the Isle of Purbeck . 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 . The village is constructed almost completely from the local grey Purbeck limestone and comprises two main streets , East Street and West Street , linked at their north end at the Square . Landmarks . The National Trust runs a shop and a tearoom in the village . The Corfe Model Village , located on the village square , is a 1 / 20 scale model that shows what the castle and village would have looked like in 1646 before the castle was slighted . Within the Church of St . Edward is an alabaster reredos inset with carvings in white marble , designed by the famous Victorian architect George Edmund Street R . A . , which was presented by Lord Eldon in 1876 . A cross in the square commemorates Queen Victoria ' s Diamond Jubilee of 1897 . Corfe Castle . The castle stands above the village and dates back in some form to the 10th century . It was the site of the murder of Edward the Martyr in 978 . During the English Civil War it was a Royalist stronghold and was besieged twice , in 1643 and again in 1646 . It is currently owned by the National Trust and is open to the public . Governance . The former royal status of Corfe meant that it existed as a borough electing two members of parliament . In the 17th and 18th centuries , with the Bankes ' s owning much of the property and thereby controlling most of the votes , the town was a rotten borough . The Bankes family was able to ensure that at least one of the MPs returned to the House of Commons was a member of the family or a Bankes nominee . The Reform Act 1832 abolished the rotten boroughs and Corfe lost its direct representation . The village and castle were part of Corfe Castle hundred . The parish now forms part of the District of Purbeck . It is within the South Dorset constituency of the House of Commons and the South West England constituency of the European Parliament . Demography . As of the 2001 census , the parish had a population of 1 , 429 living in 701 dwellings . Pensioner households made up 36 per cent of the population . Transport . The main route through the village is East Street which forms part of the A351 main road taking traffic to Wareham in the north and Swanage in the south . Separating the two streets is an area of common land called " the Halves " . Corfe Castle railway station lies to the east of East Street , adjacent to the village centre . Originally the only intermediate station on the London and South Western Railway ' s branch line from Wareham to Swanage , the station is now a stop on the Swanage Railway , a steam locomotive operated heritage railway . The railway links the tourist centres of Corfe Castle and Swanage with each other , and with a Park and Ride site at Norden station just to the north of Corfe Castle . Notable residents . The village was for many years the residence of composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji . Cultural references . Keith Roberts , an English science fiction writer living nearby set his novel " Pavane " partly around the castle and similar events in an alternate history . The children ' s author Enid Blyton spent time in the area and some of her adventure stories like The Famous Five ( Kirrin Island ) featured castles that were said to be based on Corfe Castle . The castle is a central setting in Ron Dawson ' s children ' s story , ' Scary Bones meets the Wacky Witches of Wareham ' . One of the ' Amazing adventures of Scary Bones the Skeleton ' series , the story tells how a wicked wizard has become part of the castle itself . The Castle itself features prominently in Mike Leigh ' s 1976 TV play " Nuts in May " . The two main characters , Keith and Candice - Marie , pay a visit to the castle during their camping holiday . The juxtaposition of castle and steam train at Corfe Castle is familiar to many television viewers throughout Southern England , as it features in the opening sequences of the BBC ' s South Today regional news programme along with the official train . An episode of " Mary Queen of Shops " centred around Mary Portas revamping the village ' s convenience store . Featured in ' The Lady of Hay ' by Barbara Erskine . Sports . Poole athletic club organised the multi - terrain cross county race known as The Beast . The race starts in Corfe Castle and follows tracks to the Purbeck coastal path , along to Chapman ' s Pool and the steps of Houns Tout , before returning to Corfe Castle . The race is held the weekend following the August Bank Holiday .