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A Dorset village home to magnificent medieval fortress which was reduced to its present state of ruination during the English Civil War--yet the walls which had withstood siege during the first civil war under King Stephen, would not likewise have fallen into Cromwell's hands, had they not been betrayed by an officer, Colonel Pitman, in spite of the castle's gallant defense by 'Brave Dame Mary' and her daughters.
In the village nearby is the 13th century church of St. Edward, King and Martyr. The young King Edward was murdered by his stepmother at Corfe on 18 March, 978, presumably because she desired to place her own son, Ethelred the Unready, on the throne; the discovery of Edward's body by a local blind woman led to the miraculous recovery of her sight, and Edward's mortal remains were later found to be incorrupt. Today his relics are enshrined in the Orthodox church of Brookwood, Surrey.