Courage in Adversity

A few weeks ago I went on a short camping trip with my family, and as luck would have it, I found some material that’s ever so fitting for this month’s post. We camped in Dorset, within driving distance of Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill’s Weymouth, and of the pretty village of Osmington, where John Constable took his wife on their honeymoon, and allegedly spent his days sketching the countryside, to the delight of a grateful posterity, but presumably not so much to his young bride’s delight, seeing as she was left to while away the hours chatting with their hosts.

It’s an exceptionally beautiful part of the country, and I enjoyed the coastal walks all the more because some chapters from The Journey Home to Pemberley were set on the shores of Dorset.

Dorset Coastline

Dorset coastline

And as we drove inland, we found other scenes of haunting beauty.

Corfe Castle, Wareham, Dorset

Corfe Castle, Wareham, Dorset

Corfe Castle was built soon after the Norman Conquest of 1066, on the site of a pre-existent Saxon stronghold. The remains of the stone hall built by William the Conqueror are the oldest surviving parts of the castle. The Keep was built in the early 12^th century for William’s son, Henry I. King John (Bad King John of Jane Austen’s History of England, by a Partial, Prejudiced & Ignorant Historian) spent a great deal of time at Corfe, and as he wished for greater comforts than the castle could afford him at the time, he had a miniature palace (the gloriette) built in the shadow of the Norman keep.

In 1572, Sir Christopher Hatton (Queen Elizabeth I’s Lord Chancellor) became the first private owner of Corfe Castle, but a number of difficulties and a couple of unfortunate marriages compelled the Hattons to part with it, and around 1634 it was purchased by Sir John Bankes, who served as Attorney-General to King Charles I, and later became Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas.

Sir John and his family did not get much chance to enjoy their new acquisition either. Before long, England was in the throes of a long and harrowing Civil War.

Corfe Castle, Wareham, Dorset

With the threat of the Civil War hanging in the air, Sir John’s wife – Mary, Lady Bankes – retired to Corfe Castle with her children, while her husband devoted himself to the King’s cause. When the Civil War did break out, Lady Bankes found herself in a precarious position. Parliamentary sympathies ran high in the local town, and the castle garrison consisted of a mere five soldiers.

Walls 10ft thick and its position dominating a gap in the Purbeck Hills gave substantial protection, but as for weaponry, there was precious little to rely upon.

The previous owner, Elizabeth Lady Hatton (generally known by the title of her first husband, Sir William Hatton, even after she married the elderly Sir Edward Coke) had already sold the castle’s main guns. Lady Bankes was left with just four small pieces of ordnance, and even those had to be relinquished, after protracted negotiations with the Parliamentary Committee at Poole, which turned out to be a prudent choice, because it lured her opponents into a false sense of security, and also gave Lady Bankes a respite, which she used to amass a great store of provisions.

When she was asked to surrender the castle, Lady Bankes flatly refused, and she did not change her mind when her opponents threatened to give no quarter to women and children if the fortress had to be taken by force.

On 23 June 1643, Corfe Castle came under siege for the first time. The attacking force was some 500-600 men strong, and in the final assault that number was swelled by sailors dispatched by the Parliamentarian Admiral the Earl of Warwick.

Even so, the castle withstood the siege, and at the time of the final assault, “Lady Bankes herself – ‘to her eternal honour be it spoken’ – defended the upper ward of the castle along with her daughters, their women [i.e. their maidservants] and five soldiers. This motley but determined force heaved stones and hot embers over the battlements so successfully that the soldiers were prevented from scaling their ladders.” [1]

The assault was unsuccessful, and soon afterwards the first siege came to an end, following a rumour that the King’s forces were coming to Lady Bankes’ aid. She was left in peace for a while, but in December 1645, after the decisive battle of Naseby and the fall of several other Royalist strongholds, Corfe Castle came under siege again.

By then, Lady Bankes had secured a more substantial garrison of 40-50 men. The castle held out for two months. When it fell, it was due to treachery. Lieutenant-Colonel Pitman from Lady Bankes’ own garrison, made a deal with the enemy and, in a Trojan Horse manoeuvre, introduced 100 attackers into the castle. Once the castle had been taken, an Act of Parliament was passed at Wareham, stipulating that the castle should be ‘slighted’ (destroyed). Deep holes were dug at the foot of the towers and ramparts; the holes were packed with gunpowder, and the castle that had kept attackers at bay for six centuries was reduced to the ruins we can see today.

Corfe Castle, Wareham, Dorset

Corfe Castle, Wareham, Dorset

Luckily for Lady Bankes and her children, they had a better fate. They were allowed to leave in safety. Lady Bankes lived until 1661 and tirelessly worked to petition Parliament, until her family’s estates were returned to her eldest son. Her portrait (on Wikipedia, from Christie’s) shows her steely determination and includes the keys of Corfe Castle as a symbol of her staunch resistance.

Corfe Castle (or rather whatever was left of it) and Kingston Lacy, the graceful mansion built by Sir Ralph, Lady Bankes’ eldest son, remained in the family for three and a half centuries, until gifted to the National Trust in 1982, along with their adjoining land and extensive holdings in Purbeck. “The Bankes estate was one of the most generous gifts in the National Trust’s history.” [2]

Kingston Lacy, Wimborne Minster, Dorset

Photos: J Starnes and A Starnes

Sources:

[1] Fraser, Antonia, The Weaker Vessel – Woman’s Lot in Seventeenth-Century England, Methuen London Limited, 1985 (pp. 14; 192-197).

[2] https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/dorset/corfe-castle/the-history-of-corfe-castle