RUFUS CASTLE

Dorset

The Isle of Portland is a very strange sort of place, so it is entirely fitting that it should lay claim to a very strange sort of Castle.

Rufus Castle, often called "Bow and Arrow Castle" for reasons completely unknown, stands high above the cliffs of the beautiful Church Ope Cove.  Traditionally this was the site of a Castle founded by William Rufus - hence the name - and a Castle was certainly captured on the Isle of Portland in 1142, no other candidate presents itself, so history presumes it was here.

However, the building we see today was built much later than that.  Possibly in the 15th Century, as it has provisions made for gun fire from inside the Castle.  It may be that this was a coastal defence Castle built before Henry VIII had the idea.

The tiny little tower-cum-keep stands above the footpath, which passes below the ever stranger archway which is commonly considered to be an original feature.  What a strange and mysterious little building this really is!

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2002