VIDEO: Corfe Castle relives civil war siege (From Bournemouth Echo)

VIDEO: Corfe Castle relives civil war siege

3:00pm Thursday 20th September 2012 in News By Stephen Bailey

ROUNDHEADS fired from the keep of Corfe Castle for the first time in 366 years.

They blazed away at fellow members of the Civic War Society who were playing their Loyalist enemies.

The battle was staged for the first time ever at the weekend to recreate the decisive moment of the siege in 1646 during the English Civil War.

Thousands of visitors from all over the world saw the 150 members of the society bring the dramatic moment to life.

The besieging roundhead forces tricked their way into the castle thanks to a turncoat royalist officer.

They took control of the keep and fired down at the royalist forces.

Stephen Burden, who lives at Kingston Lacy , and who is a Civic War Society press officer, said: “It was like shooting fish in a barrel.”

He said the re-creation, staged on both Saturday and Sunday, had been “more successful than we possibly imagined.”

Visitors watched the battle inside the castle from a roped off area in the middle of the action. The society is invited to the castle every September.

“It looked spectacular,” said Mr Burden.

“It was the first time someone had fired from the keep since 1646.”

On both Saturday and Sunday, the Royalist Army marched into the village at 11am and read the King’s Commission at the cross.

The society also staged military drills and displays, and recreated a dinner between Lady Bankes, who led the defence of the castle, and her royalist officers.