The Old Church cemetery in the village of Corfe Castle is overlooked by the ruins of the castle after which it is named.

Corfe Castle is one of many castles built after the Norman Conquest of England. The stone keep was constructed from locally-sourced Purbeck limestone in the early 12th century for King Henry I, William the Conqueror’s son. The castle reached its zenith towards the end of the 13th century, with the completion of an outer bailey and an imposing gatehouse.

Its Royalist supporters withstood two sieges by Oliver Cromwell’s forces during the English Civil War and only fell when its defenders were infamously betrayed from within. After the English Civil War it was heavily slighted, with dug deep holes packed with gunpowder set off to bring down its towers and ramparts.