Deal Castle

Coordinates: 51°13′10″N 1°24′13″E / 51.21943°N 1.40356°E / 51.21943; 1.40356
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Deal Castle
Second World War
Official nameArtillery castle at Deal
Designated9 October 1981
Reference no.1013380

Deal Castle is an artillery fort constructed by

Parliamentary forces
after several months' fighting.

Although it remained armed, Deal was adapted by Sir

Second World War, the captain's quarters were destroyed by German bombing, forcing Deal's then-captain, William Birdwood, to move to Hampton Court Palace and the castle became an observation post for an artillery battery placed along the shore line. The castle was not brought back into use as a residence and was restored by the government during the 1950s to form a tourist attraction. In the 21st century, Deal Castle is operated by English Heritage
, receiving 25,256 visitors in 2008.

History

16th century

Background

Henry VIII[1]

Deal Castle was built as a consequence of international tensions between England,

Henry VIII. Traditionally the Crown had left coastal defences to the local lords and communities, only taking a limited role in building and maintaining fortifications, and while France and the Empire remained in conflict with one another, maritime raids were common but an actual invasion of England seemed unlikely.[2] Modest defences, based around simple blockhouses and towers, existed in the south-west and along the Sussex coast, with a few more impressive works in the north of England, but in general the fortifications were very limited in scale.[3]

In 1533, Henry broke with Pope

device", in 1539, giving instructions for the "defence of the realm in time of invasion" and the construction of forts along the English coastline.[8]

Construction

Map of Deal Walmer and Sandown Castles, "The three castles which keep the Downs"[9]

Deal and the adjacent castles of Walmer and Sandown were constructed to protect the Downs in east Kent, an important anchorage formed by the Goodwin Sands which gave access to Deal Beach, on which enemy soldiers could easily be landed and an area the King knew well.[10] The stone castles were supported by a line of four earthwork forts, known as the Great Turf, the Little Turf Bulwark, the Great White Bulwark of Clay and the Walmer Bulwark, and a 2.5-mile-long (4.0 km) defensive ditch and bank.[11] Collectively the castles became known as the "castles of the Downes".[12][a]

The castle from the east, showing the outer bastions, inner bastions, keep and lantern

It is not known who designed Deal Castle, but Sir Edward Ryngeley and Thomas Wingfield served as the commissioners for the project, with Robert Loyrde and David Marten as the paymaster and comptroller, and Christopher Dickenson and William Clement as the master mason and carpenters.[14] Work began at Deal in April and progressed at speed, with 1,400 men at work on the site by the following month.[15] A strike for higher pay was broken up over the summer by Ryngeley and by December, when Anne of Cleves dined there, the castle was mostly completed.[16] Deal and the other fortifications along the Downs cost the Crown a total of £27,092 to build, much of which came from proceeds of the dissolution of the monasteries a few years before.[17][a] Lead, timber and stone from local monasteries were also recycled for use in Deal Castle.[18]

Wingfield became the first captain of the castle in 1540, supported by a lieutenant and overseeing a garrison of eight soldiers, sixteen gunners and two porters.[19] He reported to the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.[20]

The original invasion threat passed, but the castle was reinforced in 1558, due to fresh concerns of a French attack.

Spanish armada and were probably kept ready for action throughout the rest of Elizabeth's reign.[23]

17th century

Wenceslas Hollar
in the mid-17th century

During the first decade of the 1600s, England was at peace with France and Spain and coastal defences received little attention.[24] By 1615, Deal Castle was in a poor state, its outer walls damaged by storms and coastal erosion, while a survey suggested repairs estimated at £396 were necessary.[25][a] The Captain of the castle, William Byng, wrote numerous letters to his superiors, claiming winter storms had filled the moat with water and stones from the beach and undermined the castle foundations.[26] By 1618, he reported most of the garrison were living in the nearby town, with only a small guard force manning the castle at night.[27]

As its condition deteriorated, fighting between Dutch, French and Spanish ships in the Downs became common, increasing the strategic importance of fortifications along the Kent coast.

Parliamentarian forces at the start of the First English Civil War in August 1642, with William Batten replacing William Byng, who was suspected of Royalist sympathies,[31] although the castle played little part in this conflict.[32]

When the Second English Civil War broke out in 1648, the Parliamentarian navy was based in the Downs, protected by Walmer and the other Henrician castles, but by May a Royalist insurrection was under way across Kent.[33] The previous year, Batten had been forced to resign as Commander of the Fleet and he now encouraged elements of the navy to switch sides.[34] Sir Henry Palmer, a former sailor, accompanied by other members of the Kentish gentry, also called on the fleet to revolt, taking advantage of the many fellow Kentish men in the crews.[35] Walmer and Deal Castle declared for the King, shortly after the garrisons at Sandown.[36] Rainsborough was removed from his post as captain.[37] With both the coastal fortresses and the navy now under Royalist control, Parliament feared that foreign forces might be landed along the coast or aid sent to the Scots.[38]

The east side of the castle, showing the moat and the sequence of gun-ports at ground level

Parliament defeated the wider insurgency at the Battle of Maidstone at the start of June and then sent a force under the command of Colonel Nathaniel Rich to deal with Deal and the other castles along the Downs.[39] Walmer Castle was the first to be besieged and surrendered on 12 July.[40] Deal, which had been resupplied by the Royalists from the sea, was besieged in July.[41] A Royalist fleet bombarded the Parliamentarian positions and temporarily landed a force of 1,500 Flemish mercenaries in support of the revolt, but a shortage of money forced their return to the Continent.[42] The garrison then carried out a surprise attack on their besiegers but were fought back with some losses.[30] The fleet, under the command of Prince Charles, attempted to land a fresh force in August, but despite three attempts the operation failed and suffered heavy losses.[43] After news arrived of the Royalist defeat at Preston, Deal surrendered on 20 August and artillery assaults then began on Sandown, leading the remaining garrisons to surrender.[44]

Rich became the new Captain and reported the castle had been badly damaged during the conflict, being "much torn and spoiled with the granades", and he estimated repairs work would cost at least £500.[45][a] A governor, Samuel Taverner, was appointed, supported by a corporal and twenty soldiers.[46] In light of the Dutch threat, Deal Castle was maintained and kept equipped with powder, and was reinforced with earthworks and soldiers at the start of the First Anglo-Dutch War in 1652.[47] Following the Stuart Restoration in 1660, the garrison was reduced in size and their pay reduced, but the castle continued to play an important role in defending the Downs during the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars, supported by local trained bands.[48] Byng attempted to reclaim his former captainship under the new regime, and may have been briefly reappointed in early 1660.[49] Following the December 1688 Glorious Revolution which removed James II, the townsfolk of Deal seized the castle in support of William of Orange, and took steps to defend the Downs against a feared Irish invasion which never materialised.[50]

18th–21st centuries

The castle at the end of the 19th century; at the rear are the captain's quarters, since destroyed

Deal Castle continued to be used as a military fortification throughout the 18th century and in 1728 it was equipped with 11 culverin guns.[51] The following year, the captain, naval officer Sir John Norris, redeveloped the castle to improve his personal accommodation.[52] Similar work had been carried out at Walmer in 1708 by the Duke of Dorset, Lionel Sackville and there may have been some competition between the two men.[51] The keep was redesigned with medieval-style battlements and wood-panelled accommodation at the rear overlooking the sea; the porter's lodge was also updated.[53]

During the Napoleonic Wars, the castle was armed with nine 36-pounder guns, supported by further artillery batteries placed along the beach.[54] To protect Deal, units of infantry and cavalry, called fencibles, were formed in 1794 by William Pitt the Younger—then both the prime minister and the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports—and in 1802 units of bombardiers recruited by Pitt carried out military exercises at the castle.[55] The politician and banker Lord Carrington carried out improvements to the castle in 1802, apparently as a rival project to his friend Pitt's work at Walmer.[56] According to Samuel Wilberforce, Carrington had hoped to charge the cost of the work to the Treasury, but when he attempted to submit the claims, they were rejected by Pitt and he had to pay for the improvements himself.[57]

Deal Castle was increasingly resembling a private house, rather than purely a fortification, and this led to arguments in 1829 as to whether it should be subject to local taxation as a private dwelling, or continue to be exempt as a military site.[58] The captaincy had long since become an honorary position, given out as a reward by the Crown.[59] In 1898, the War Office agreed that the Office of Works should be consulted over any external alterations to the historic castle and that the Office of Works would be responsible for paying for any resulting work.[60] The War Office finally concluded in 1904 that the castle no longer had any value either as a defence or as a barracks and transferred it entirely to the Office of Works.[60] When the captain was not in residence it was opened to visitors.[61]

During the

ex officio by the Commandant General Royal Marines.[66]

In the 21st century, Deal Castle is operated by English Heritage as a tourist attraction, receiving 25,256 visitors in 2008.[67] It is protected under UK law as a scheduled monument.[68]

Architecture

Ground floor plan: A – moat; B – gatehouse; C – inner courtyard; D – keep
The castle from the south in 2018

Deal Castle retains most of its original 16th-century structure, including a tall keep with six semi-circular bastions, 86 feet (26 m) across, at the centre, flanked by a further six rounded bastions, the western of which served as a gatehouse, surrounded by a moat and a curtain wall.[69] The castle's bastion walls are 15 feet (4.6 m) thick.[70] It was constructed using Kentish ragstone from near Maidstone, locally made bricks and Caen stone recycled from local monasteries.[71] It was larger than its sister castles at Walmer and Sandown, measuring approximately 234 by 216 feet (71 by 66 m) across and covering 0.85 acres (0.34 ha).[72]

The castle originally had four tiers of

gunloops in the basement for handguns, should close defence be required.[73] The embrasures in the walls were all widely splayed to provide the maximum possible space for the guns to operate and traverse, and the interior of the castle was designed with vents to allow the smoke from its guns to escape.[74] The battlements on the modern castle are in a faux medieval, rather than Tudor, style and date from 1732.[68]

The historian

newer Italian styles of defence.[75] Like its sister castles along the Downs, Deal suffered from design problems: it needed too many guns to ever be fully equipped; its curved surfaces were vulnerable to attack; and despite attempts to keep the walls low and thick, its relatively high profile, driven by the requirement to support several tiers of defences, exposed it to attack.[76]

Deal Castle is entered through the gatehouse, which originally overlooked a walled garden, since largely destroyed.

murder-holes to enable the garrison to defend the internal passageway with missiles or handguns; it would originally have also been protected by a portcullis at the entrance.[79] The outer bastions were filled with earth in the 1570s, and have 18th-century ramparts; the superstructure around the eastern bastion was rebuilt after the Second World War.[80] A passageway called "the Rounds" runs along the outside of the outer bastions, linking the handgun positions covering the base of the moat.[81]

The keep has a central newel staircase, linking the basement, ground and first floors.[82] When first built, the garrison would have lived on the ground floor of the keep, the first floor being used by the captain, and the basement for stores.[83] The ground floor is subdivided by radial walls and originally would have been further subdivided by partitions; the original ovens and fireplace survive.[84] The first floor mainly dates from the 1720s, although some Tudor elements remain.[85] There is a wooden lantern structure on the top of the keep that contains a bell dating from 1655 and early 18th-century graffiti.[86] The keep's gun embrasures were converted to form sash windows in the 18th and 19th centuries.[87]

See also

  • List of Captains of Deal Castle

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Comparing early modern costs and prices with those of the modern period is challenging. £27,092 in 1539 could be equivalent to between £15.3 million and £6,960 million in 2014, depending on the price comparison used. For comparison, the total royal expenditure on all the Device Forts across England between 1539 and 1547 came to £376,500, with St Mawes, for example, costing £5,018, and Sandgate £5,584. £396 in 1616 could be equivalent to between £1 million and £21 million; £1,243 in 1634 to between £3 million and £52 million. £500 in 1648 could equate to between £1 million and £17 million.[13]

References

  1. ^ Coad 2000, p. 26; "Design for Henrician castle on the Kent coast", British Library, retrieved 29 June 2016
  2. ^ Thompson 1987, p. 111; Hale 1983, p. 63
  3. ^ King 1991, pp. 176–177
  4. ^ Morley 1976, p. 7
  5. ^ Hale 1983, p. 63; Harrington 2007, p. 5
  6. ^ Morley 1976, p. 7; Hale 1983, pp. 63–64
  7. ^ Hale 1983, p. 66; Harrington 2007, p. 6
  8. ^ Harrington 2007, p. 11; Walton 2010, p. 70
  9. ^ Saunders 1963, p. 4
  10. ^ King 1991, p. 178; Harrington 2007, p. 16; Coad 2000, p. 22
  11. ^ Harrington 2007, p. 16
  12. ^ Harrington 2007, p. 8
  13. ^ Biddle et al. 2001, p. 12; Lawrence H. Officer; Samuel H. Williamson (2014), "Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a UK Pound Amount, 1270 to Present", MeasuringWorth, retrieved 29 May 2015{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  14. ^ Colvin, Ransome & Summerson 1982, p. 455; Coad 2000, p. 24
  15. ^ Colvin, Ransome & Summerson 1982, p. 457
  16. ^ Coad 2000, pp. 22–23; Colvin, Ransome & Summerson 1982, p. 457
  17. ^ Harrington 2007, p. 8; Colvin, Ransome & Summerson 1982, p. 457
  18. ^ Colvin, Ransome & Summerson 1982, p. 457; Coad 2000, pp. 23–24
  19. ^ Elvin 1894, p. 77; Saunders 1989, p. 47; Coad 2000, p. 27
  20. ^ Coad 2000, p. 27
  21. ^ Elvin 1890, p. 163
  22. ^ Coad 2000, p. 28; Elvin 1894, p. 78
  23. ^ Coad 2000, pp. 28–29; Elvin 1894, pp. 78–81
  24. ^ Harrington 2007, p. 49; Saunders 1989, pp. 70–71
  25. ^ O'Neil 1985, p. 6
  26. ^ Elvin 1894, p. 83; "Byng, William (1586-by 1669), of Wrotham, Kent; later of Deal Castle, Kent", The History of Parliament, 2010, retrieved 25 June 2016
  27. ^ Coad 2000, pp. 29–30; Elvin 1894, p. 82
  28. ^ Coad 2000, pp. 29–30
  29. ^ O'Neil 1985, p. 7; Elvin 1894, p. 83
  30. ^ a b O'Neil 1985, p. 7
  31. ^ "Byng, William (1586-by 1669), of Wrotham, Kent; later of Deal Castle, Kent", The History of Parliament, 2010, retrieved 25 June 2016; Elvin 1894, p. 131
  32. ^ Elvin 1890, p. 183
  33. ^ Harrington 2007, p. 50; Kennedy 1962, pp. 251–252
  34. ^ Kennedy 1962, pp. 248–250; Harrington 2007, p. 50
  35. ^ Ashton 1994, p. 440
  36. ^ Kennedy 1962, pp. 251–252
  37. ^ Elvin 1894, p. 131
  38. ^ Ashton 1994, pp. 439–440
  39. ^ Ashton 1994, p. 440; Harrington 2007, p. 51
  40. ^ Harrington 2007, p. 51
  41. ^ Harrington 2007, p. 51; Ashton 1994, p. 442; O'Neil 1985, p. 7
  42. ^ Coad 2000, p. 31
  43. ^ O'Neil 1985, p. 7; Coad 2000, p. 31
  44. ^ Harrington 2007, p. 51; Ashton 1994, p. 442; O'Neil 1985, pp. 9–10; Coad 2000, p. 32
  45. ^ O'Neil 1985, p. 10; Elvin 1890, p. 207
  46. ^ Elvin 1894, p. 118
  47. ^ Elvin 1894, pp. 118, 131; Coad 2000, p. 32; O'Neil 1985, p. 10
  48. ^ O'Neil 1985, p. 11; Coad 2000, p. 32; Elvin 1894, pp. 123–25
  49. ^ "Byng, William (1586-by 1669), of Wrotham, Kent; later of Deal Castle, Kent", The History of Parliament, 2010, retrieved 25 June 2016; Coad 2000, p. 6
  50. ^ Elvin 1894, p. 126; O'Neil 1985, p. 12
  51. ^ a b Coad 2000, pp. 32–33
  52. ^ Coad 2000, pp. 32–33; J. K. Laughton (2008), "Norris, Sir John (1670/71–1749)" (online ed.), Oxford University Press, retrieved 29 June 2016
  53. ^ Coad 2000, pp. 33–34
  54. ^ Coad 2000, p. 34
  55. ^ Elvin 1890, pp. 246, 248
  56. ^ Coad 2000, p. 35; Elvin 1890, pp. 252–253; A. F. Pollard (2009), "Smith, Robert, first Baron Carrington (1752–1838)" (online ed.), Oxford University Press, retrieved 29 June 2016
  57. ^ Coad 2000, p. 35; Elvin 1890, pp. 252–253
  58. ^ Coad 2000, p. 34; Elvin 1890, pp. 253–254
  59. ^ Coad 2000, p. 14
  60. ^ a b Fry 2014, p. 11
  61. ^ Coad 2000, p. 35
  62. ^ Coad 2000, p. 34; Parker 2005, p. 104
  63. ^ a b "Deal Emergency Coastal Battery", Historic England, retrieved 26 June 2016
  64. ^ Coad 2000, p. 15; "Deal Emergency Coastal Battery", Historic England, retrieved 26 June 2016
  65. ^ Coad 2000, p. 34; "Deal Castle", Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), 1 May 1956, retrieved 26 June 2016
  66. ^ "Historical Timeline: The Royal Marines in Deal and Walmer". Royal Marines Heritage Trails. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  67. ^ "CASE Tourism Data", UK Government, retrieved 26 June 2016
  68. ^ a b "Artillery Castle at Deal", Historic England, retrieved 26 June 2016
  69. ^ Harrington 2007, p. 21; Rutton 1898, pp. 26–27; Saunders 1989, p. 38
  70. ^ Saunders 1989, p. 38
  71. ^ Coad 2000, pp. 6, 24
  72. ^ Rutton 1898, p. 26
  73. ^ Harrington 2007, p. 20; Saunders 1989, p. 38
  74. ^ Harrington 2007, p. 21
  75. ^ Hale 1983, p. 73
  76. ^ Lowry 2006, p. 13; Saunders 1989, pp. 43–44
  77. ^ Coad 2000, p. 4
  78. ^ Coad 2000, pp. 4–5; "Artillery Castle at Deal", Historic England, retrieved 26 June 2016
  79. ^ Coad 2000, pp. 5–6
  80. ^ Coad 2000, pp. 7–8
  81. ^ Coad 2000, pp. 15–16
  82. ^ Coad 2000, p. 10; "Artillery Castle at Deal", Historic England, retrieved 26 June 2016
  83. ^ Coad 2000, p. 9
  84. ^ Coad 2000, p. 12; "Artillery Castle at Deal", Historic England, retrieved 26 June 2016
  85. ^ Coad 2000, pp. 13–14
  86. ^ Coad 2000, p. 15
  87. ^ Coad 2000, p. 9; "Artillery Castle at Deal", Historic England, retrieved 26 June 2016

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Deal Castle.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Deal_Castle&oldid=1187643912"