Corfe Castle Town Trust

Restoration Project Progress

A little introduction

The Old Town Hall at Corfe Castle was passed to the Town Trust in 1888 and at that time was already more than 200 years old. The ground floor was built from secondary use of stone from the castle after it was destroyed during the Civil War.

The single story thatched building was destroyed by fire in about 1680 and the present two story structure dates from the early 18 th C when it was the seat of the Mayor and Barons of the Ancient Borough of Corfe Castle with its Charter dating back to Queen Elizabeth 1st.

The building is described in Hutchins as a ‘Little Gem’ and is Listed as Grade 2*. Given that the floor area of the Council Chamber is only 350 square feet it claims to be the smallest Town Hall in England.

In 2002 the Trustees were concerned at the condition of the building and commissioned a full survey which revealed serious structural faults arising from inappropriate patch maintenance over the last 50 years. Unchecked the building would become unsafe and it became necessary to launch an appeal to raise the ₤ 100,000 needed to both repair the building and to upgrade the facilities for the 21 st Century and beyond.

Jon Snow the Channel 4 News Presenter very kindly agreed to front the Appeal and with the help of major awards from SITA, DEFRA, The Pilgrim Trust and Corfe Charity which together have contributed half the total the village has over three years achieved this target and work to restore the building began in September 2005 and was completed by the end of January 2006 allowing  the fitting out and upgrade of facilities to be completerd by Easter 2006

Ongoing maintenance of our historic Town Hall building is an expensive business  please help by sending your donations to The Treasurer The Corfe Castle Town Trust No 1 West Street Corfe Castle Dorset BH20 5HA or contribute through PayPal. If you are a Tax Payer we can claim back the tax on your donation.