Corfe Avenue

In the early sixties another of the green field sites in Hartley Vale was developed and as it was the new streets were christened with the names of famous castle locations, hence the three around what is almost an oval - Beaumaris, Powderham and Corfe.

Corfe Castle itself dates from Norman times but this particular Dorset name antedates the castle and was first recorded in 955. The name itself is thought to derive from an old English word “corf” meaning cutting or pass - and as such is related to the modern English word “carve”.

The corf in question here is the River Corfe which cuts through landscape and makes a gap in the Purbeck Hills.