English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Corfe Castle

Major Settlement in the Parish of Corfe Castle

Historical Forms

  • at Corf 955 ShaftR(S573) 14
  • ad Corf, to Corf 956 14 ib
  • Corf 1162,1202,1203,1210 P 1213 Ch 1320 Cur 1219,1223 Fine 1456
  • Corfe 1241 Pat
  • Corfe alias Corfe Castle 1636 Ilch
  • (æt) Corfesgeate 979 ASC 11
  • (at) Corf geate 979 ASC e12
  • in loco qui dæicitur Porta Corf 979 ASC e12
  • (æt) Corfes geate 979 ASC 12
  • Corvesgeate e12 FW 12 SD
  • Corvesgate 12 HH e15 LHyda
  • Chorf 12 King'sWorks
  • Corff(e) 1217 Pat 1227 Lib 1636 Ilch
  • Corffe in Purbyk 1383 Cl
  • Corf(f)(e) Castel(l), Corf(f)(e) castel(l)(e) 1302 Pat 1305,1309 FF 1327 SR 1575 Saxton
  • Corf(f)(e) castle 1545 Ct
  • Corf(f)(e) Chastle 1632 Pitt
  • Crof' 1320 Pat
  • Croffe 1535 Hutch3
  • Croffe Castell 1566 Rent
  • Corft 1399 Cl 1427 Pat
  • Hundred of Corff 1381 Pitt 16
  • hundredos de Corff Castell vocat' le Inne Hundred et le Out Hundred 1547 ib

Etymology

'A cutting, a gap, a pass', v. corf , with geat 'an opening, a gap' (replaced in one instance by Lat  porta ) and castel(l) 'castle', cf. Isle of Purbeck supra . The name aptly describes the gap in the central ridge of the Purbeck Hills at this place. Corf (es ) geat probably means 'the gap called Corf ', v. -es 2 , cf. Tengstrand xxvii; for the same combination, though non-genitival, v. Corscombe par. infra and Coryates in Portisham par. infra . For specific references to the castle, v. Corfe Castle infra , and for Corfe Castle as a hundred, cf. note under par. heading supra , v. in 'inner', ūt 'outer'. Three sets of bounds describing Anglo-Saxon estates mainly in the southern half of the present par. occur in 948 (15) ShaftR (S 534 (1)), 955 (14) ib (S 573), and 956 (14) ib (S 632).

Places in the same Parish

Other OS name