Image Description (Alt text): A map of Corfe Castle drawn in 1586 by surveyor Ralph Treswell.
Audio track transcript:
"Have you met Sir Christopher? He’s just bought this place from our first Queen Elizabeth. £4,761 pounds, 18 shillings and 7 ½ pence. That’s about £1,830,000 to you. Bargain if you ask me – comes with a vineyard, stone quarries – even rights to the cargo from nearby shipwrecks.
I’m drawing this survey you can see on your screen. Ralph Treswell, by the way. A painter at heart, but surveys pay the bills. What a place this is. Long ago two streams eroded the chalk here, isolating the hill in geological time.
They call it an enclosure castle – one of over ninety William the Conqueror built before 1100. Towered above everything, save the odd cathedral or monastery. A reminder of the power of the crown. We’re in a bailey – an open space within castle walls. It could be a hive of activity. A stable large enough for 20 horses, workshops, smithies, stores – farriers, blacksmiths, people here to clean, repair, bring supplies.
But it’s a place of war too. See the ‘New Bulwark’ on my plans? An artillery platform with six cannon. These guard the Outer and West Baileys, as we await an armada from Spain. It has been much on our minds all 1586. Sir Christopher gave a speech in Parliament about it. Well, I must be getting on, and you, should head west.
Good luck to you, traveller. Enjoy Sir Christopher’s castle."