Colonel Butler, the Governor of Wareham, aware that no troops were expected, took the alarm, barricaded his lodgings, firing from thence upon his assailant; but the royalist troop had no time to bestow on this attack. They therefore set fire to a house in the vicinity which stood near the powder magazine, and the Governor, thoroughly frightened, consented to yield himself a prisoner. He was carried, together with others, mounted behind some of the triumphant troopers, to the foot of Corfe Castle.
Here a large rebel force was drawn up to oppose their further progress; but the brave bearing of this little troop, together with the shouts of welcome from the besieged on the walls, induced the besiegers to give way. The gallant band, having accomplished their purpose, tendered their services to the lady, and presented also for her acceptance the prisoners they had so bravely captured.
The object of this chivalrous action was probably an offer of escape to the ladies from the Castle, which, however, was not accepted. And on their return Colonel Cromwell, with some of his troopers, were taken prisoners.
The course of events now shifted rapidly, and though Lady Bankes was still as intrepid as at first, it was not so with all who were around her; for the captive Governor of Wareham, Colonel Butler, prevailed on Colonel Laurence (hitherto so trustworthy) not only to connive at, but to accompany him in his flight. And there was within the walls another traitor, Lieutenant-Colonel Pitman, whose conduct was still more base, his treachery far more fatal in its consequences. This officer in the Castle garrison, being weary of the King’s service, let the enemy know that if he might have a protection he would deliver Corfe Castle to the Parliament. This treacherous offer was accepted, and a protection order was sent to him from London. On this, Pitman proposed to Colonel Anketil, the Governor of the Castle, to fetch one hundred men out of Somerset to add to the Corfe Castle garrison. This proposal being approved, he formed a design with the rebel, Colonel Bingham, who commanded the siege, that under this pretence he should convey more than one hundred men into the Castle, and as soon as they were entered the besiegers should make an attack. On this a hundred men were drawn out of Weymouth garrison and marched to Lulworth Castle, where they were joined by some thirty or forty more soldiers. Pitman led them in the night to the port agreed upon for their entrance, where Colonel Anketil was ready to receive them. Some of these men already knew every part of the interior of the Castle; but when fifty of these new soldiers had entered, Colonel Anketil, seeing more in the rear, ordered the Sally Port to be closed, saying that there were as many as he could dispose of. The crafty Pitman expostulated on his causing him to bring these men so far and then to expose them to the cold and to the enemy.
Those of the fresh soldiers who entered took possession of the King’s and Queen’s towers and the two platforms, awaiting the time when the besiegers would make an assault, it being then two hours after midnight. The besieged, as soon as the fraud was discovered, fired and threw down great stones upon these intruders, who, however, maintained their posts. There were, in fact, only six men of the garrison in the upper part of the Castle, for that was considered impregnable. The remainder of the defending force was placed in the lower ward, which had hitherto been the post of danger. The besieging forces, as soon as they saw their friends on the towers and platforms, began to advance; and it was then clear to the inmates of the Castle that they had been most villainously betrayed. A parley was demanded, and an agreement made that all lives should be spared, and those who belonged to the town of Corfe should return quietly to their houses; and the circumstance of a Parliamentary officer being there with others of that party, prisoners in the Castle, induced the besiegers to offer conditions, which were accepted. But the truce was broken almost at once, for two of the besiegers, anxious for spoil, came over the wall by means of a ladder, whereupon some of the Castle garrison fired on them, and the risk of a free fight and general slaughter throughout the Castle now began.
Colonel Bingham was a descendant of a family long known and highly respected in the county of Dorset, and naturally could not but admire the courage of the lady who was his foe, and he at once set about preserving the lives of the 140 persons then within the Castle.
This last siege is said, in Sprigg’s Table of Battles and Sieges, to have lasted forty-eight days, during which eleven men were slain and five cannons taken. The exact date of the fall of Corfe Castle is uncertain, but it was probably in the last week of the month of February, 1646. Thus, after a resistance of nearly three years’ duration, brave Lady Bankes was dispossessed of the fortress, which she continued to defend so long as a chance remained for the preservation of the Crown.
On March 5th, 1646, a vote passed the House of Commons to demolish Corfe Castle. The decree was ruthlessly carried into effect, and far more was, unfortunately, done than was sufficient to render the Castle utterly untenable for the future. Most of the towers were undermined, whilst others had the soil removed from the foundation preparatory to a similar process. Some were blown up with gunpowder, whilst others, perhaps, sank down by their own weight into the mines without the aid of gunpowder.
The work of plunder throughout the Castle was soon accomplished; and there are not a few of the fair mansions in Dorset which have been constructed in large measure of the stone and timber carried away from Corfe Castle. The rebels not only plundered the Castle, dividing amongst them its sumptuous furniture (some of which was traced by Sir Ralph Bankes, after the Restoration, to the houses of county gentlemen, and some to dealers in London), but even timber and stone were found to have been appropriated by some gentlemen of the county who supported the cause of Parliament. Most of the lead was sold to a plumber of Poole.
The halls, galleries, and other chambers throughout the building were nobly decorated with rich tapestry and carpeting and furniture, most of which had probably remained since the splendid days of Sir Christopher Hatton. And as to furniture and tapestry which existed in the Castle, it is not a mere matter of conjecture, as several of the things taken away are still extant. A Perticular (sic) of the goods viewed at Colonel Bingham’s house gives a long list of beautiful tapestry, silk quilts, and carpets, e.g.—