Portland Castle
Portland Castle | |
---|---|
Dorset, England | |
Coordinates | 50°34′06″N 02°26′48″W / 50.56833°N 2.44667°W |
Type | Device Fort |
Site information | |
Owner | English Heritage |
Open to the public | Yes |
Condition | Intact |
Site history | |
Built | 1539–41 |
In use | 1949 |
Materials | Portland stone |
Events | English Civil War First Anglo-Dutch War |
Official name | Portland Castle |
Designated | 9 October 1981 |
Reference no. | 1015326 |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
Official name | Portland Castle |
Designated | 17 May 1993 |
Reference no. | 1205262 |
Portland Castle is an artillery fort constructed by
Portland continued in use as a fort until the end of the
History
16th century
Portland Castle was built as a consequence of international tensions between England,
In 1533, Henry broke with Pope
As a consequence, Lord Russell inspected the coast along an anchorage known as
The threat of a French invasion passed, and peace was declared in 1558.[14] Attention shifted away from Portland, and a 1574 survey reported that the castle was in a poor condition, with similar concerns being repeated in 1583.[15] Tensions with Spain grew and military attention focused on the threat to the south-west of England.[16] War broke out in 1585, and £228 was spent on renovating Portland Castle.[15] In 1596, the garrison still comprised a captain and 13 men.[15][a]
17th–19th centuries
In the early 1600s, England was at peace with France and Spain and the coastal forts, included Portland, received little attention.[17] A 1623 survey reported that the castle was equipped with three culverins, nine demi-culverins and a saker, but that the fortifications had suffered badly from sea erosion and required extensive repairs.[18] Fourteen years later, the castle had 15 guns and a garrison of a captain and 12 men.[18]
When the
During the
Portland Castle continued in use through the 18th century, primarily protecting vessels against privateers, including merchant vessels carrying stone from the local Portland quarries.[22] Reports in 1702 and 1715 complained about the dilapidated condition of the fortification – the sea had washed away 112 feet (34 m) of its foundations – and the number of artillery pieces was reduced to seven.[23] By 1779, the castle had a caretaker garrison of three men and eight guns, and reportedly had not been repaired in the previous 30 years.[24] During the Napoleonic Wars, the castle's guns were increased to comprise six 24-pounder, six 12-pounders and two 9-pounder guns (10.9 kg, 5.4 kg and 4.1 kg respectively), but the fortification remained in a poor condition overall.[24]
Following the final defeat of Napoleon, the castle was disarmed and leased to John Manning, a Portland churchman, who converted it from a fortress into a private house.[25] John's son, Charles Manning, took over the house in 1834 and continued to develop it.[26] Among the Mannings' work was the conversion of an older house alongside the main castle, which had once housed the master gunner, into a grander property, known today as the Captain's House.[27] In the late 1840s, the Portland Roads were converted into an artificial harbour through the construction of a breakwater, and new forts were built on the Verne heights and the sea front to protect it, although the structure of the old castle itself was left untouched by the growing complex of forts.[28] Charles died in 1869 and, amid ongoing invasion fears, the War Office took over the castle again for use as accommodation for commissioned officers, including as a house for the adjutant of the Verne Citadel.[29]
20th–21st centuries
In the early years of the 20th century, the War Office and the
After the conflict, Portland Castle was transferred to the Ministry of Works in 1949 and opened to the public in 1955.[34] The Ministry decided to present the interior as it might have looked in the 16th century and removed most of the 19th- and 20th-century additions and changes.[34] The Captain's House and the adjacent gardens were used by the neighbouring HMS Osprey helicopter base until 1999, but with the facility's closure, this part of the fort was also opened to visitors, the house being turned into a visitor facility.[35]
In the 21st century the castle is operated by English Heritage as a tourist attraction, receiving 22,207 visitors in 2010.[36] The main castle is protected under UK law as a Grade I listed building, and the Captain's House as a Grade II* building.[37] 2023 saw the highest ever amount of annual visitors to Portland Castle of 30,000.[38]
Architecture
The heart of the castle is the keep, 120 feet (37 m) across, comprising a central tower with two wings on either side and a gun battery to the front, together forming an unusual, fan-shaped design overlooking the sea.[39] This is surrounded by a walled courtyard, approximately 170 by 90 feet (52 by 27 m), with two gun platforms on either side of the keep.[40] The Captain's House occupies the western side of the courtyard, and the Governor's Garden lies beyond the eastern wall.[41] The castle is entered through an outer gateway on the southern side, surmounted by Charles II's coat of arms.[27]
When first built, the castle would have held three tiers of artillery, two in the front battery and a third layer in the central tower.
The keep is two storeys high, built of ashlar Portland stone.[1] Historic England considers it to form "one of the best preserved and best known examples" of the Henrician forts.[1] In the centre of the ground floor is the octagonal great hall, now fitted with large Victorian windows, which would have originally providing living space for the garrison.[45] Off the great hall are wings holding the gunners' quarters and the castle's kitchen, the latter equipped with a large, 16th-century fireplace.[46] Running around the front of the keep is the gun room. This was originally a two-storey gun battery with embrasures for five guns on the ground floor and four more above on the first floor, with the southern end of the ground floor subdivided into four barrack rooms.[47] The ground-floor embrasures were designed with vents to allow the smoke from the guns to escape.[48] Both the wooden roof that formed the first-floor gun platform and the internal wooden partitions have been dismantled, however, and the chamber is now open to the air.[47] It now houses a variety of 18th and 19th century cannons.[13]
On the first floor is the upper hall and the captain's chamber, used in the 16th century as a living and working space by the castle's commander, and converted into a dining room and a bedroom in the 19th century.[49] On the opposite side to the captain's private chamber are two other bedrooms, possibly originally for the use of the castle's lieutenant.[50]
The current Governor's Garden was created in 2002 by the horticulturist Christopher Bradley-Hole, as part of a wider programme of work across English Heritage properties.[51] The maritime-themed garden features circular designs, echoing those in the adjacent castle, and uses local Portland stone.[52]
List of governors
- Captain John Arthur
- Richard Channing [53]
- 1625–: Richard Rawleigh
- 1628–: Edward Sydenham
- 1644–1646 Sir Walter Hastings (Royalist)
- 1646: Elias Bond
- 1649–1650: Colonel Edward Sexby (Parliamentarian)
- 1650–1653: Lt-Col. George Joyce
- 1655–1658: John Pitson
- 1658–?1660: George Pley
- 1660–1679: Humphrey Weld[54] (MP for Christchurch, 1661)
- 1698–1702: Sir Thomas Travell[55] (MP for Milborne Port, 1701–1715)
- William Taunton
- c. 1714: Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton[56]
- 1714–: Captain Richard Percy (Lieutenant-Governor) [56]
- 1728–1741: William Clapcott (High Sheriff of Dorset, 1734)
- 1741–: Sydenham Williams (High Sheriff of Dorset, 1740)
- 1761–1788: John Taver
- 1788–1791: Gabriel Steward (died 1792) [57] (MP for Weymouth, 1778–1790)
- 1791–1807: Gabriel Tucker Steward (son of above) [58] (MP for Weymouth, 1794–1804)
- 1805–1834 : John Penn[59](MP for Helston, 1802–1805) (last governor)
Following the death of John Penn the post of Governor of Portland Castle was abolished.[60]
See also
Notes
- ^ a b Comparing early modern costs and prices with those of the modern period is challenging. £4,964 in 1541 could be equivalent to between £2.4 million and £1,175 million in 2014, depending on the price comparison used, and £228 in 1585 to between £55,000 and £23.5 million. 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.[11]
References
- ^ a b c "List entry", Historic England
- ^ Thompson 1987, p. 111; Hale 1983, p. 63
- ^ King 1991, pp. 176–177
- ^ Morley 1976, p. 7
- ^ Hale 1983, p. 63; Harrington 2007, p. 5
- ^ Morley 1976, p. 7; Hale 1983, pp. 63–64
- ^ Hale 1983, p. 66; Harrington 2007, p. 6
- ^ Harrington 2007, p. 11; Walton 2010, p. 70
- ^ Lawson 2002, pp. 19–20; Harrington 2007, p. 52
- ^ Lawson 2002, p. 20; Harrington 2007, p. 8; "List entry", Historic England
- ^ 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 26 September 2015
- ^ a b Lawson 2002, p. 21; Symonds 1914, pp. 34–35
- ^ a b Lawson 2002, p. 8
- ^ Biddle et al. 2001, p. 40
- ^ a b c Lawson 2002, p. 22
- ^ Biddle et al. 2001, pp. 35, 40
- ^ Harrington 2007, p. 49; Saunders 1989, pp. 70–71
- ^ a b Lawson 2002, p. 19
- ^ a b c d e f Lawson 2002, p. 24
- ^ Lawson 2002, pp. 19, 24; Harrington 2007, p. 49
- ^ Harrington 2007, p. 50; Saunders 1989, p. 40
- ^ Lawson 2002, pp. 25, 27
- ^ Lawson 2002, p. 25; Saunders 1989, pp. 115–116
- ^ a b Lawson 2002, p. 27
- ^ Lawson 2002, pp. 27–28, 30
- ^ Lawson 2002, p. 28
- ^ a b Lawson 2002, p. 4
- ^ Lawson 2002, pp. 28–30
- ^ Lawson 2002, p. 30; Pettifer 2002, p. 66
- ^ Fry 2014, pp. 13–14
- ^ Lawson 2002, p. 30
- ^ Lawson 2002, pp. 30–32; "Monument No. 1413734", Historic England, retrieved 31 August 2015
- ^ "Monument No. 1420378", Historic England, retrieved 31 August 2015
- ^ a b Lawson 2002, pp. 3, 32; Chapple 2014, p. 84
- ^ Lawson 2002, pp. 4, 32; http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/portland-castle/garden/
- ^ BDRC Continental (2011), "Visitor Attractions, Trends in England, 2010" (PDF), Visit England, p. 65, archived from the original (PDF) on 19 September 2015, retrieved 19 September 2015
- ^ "Portland Castle", English Heritage; "List entry", Historic England
- ^ "Portland Castle visitors 'highest ever', English Heritage says". BBC News. 9 February 2024. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
- ^ Lawson 2002, p. 3; Harrington 2007, p. 22; Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (1970), "Portland", British History Online
- ^ Lawson 2002, p. 3; Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (1970), "Portland", British History Online
- ^ Lawson 2002, p. 15
- ^ Lawson 2002, p. 3
- ^ Lawson 2002, p. 5; "List entry", Historic England
- ^ Lawson 2002, p. 14; "List entry", Historic England
- ^ Lawson 2002, p. 5
- ^ Lawson 2002, pp. 5, 9; "List entry", Historic England
- ^ a b Lawson 2002, pp. 7, 11
- ^ Lawson 2002, pp. 7–8; Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (1970), "Portland", British History Online
- ^ Lawson 2002, pp. 10–11
- ^ Lawson 2002, pp. 12–13
- ^ Lawson 2002, pp. 16–17
- ^ Lawson 2002, p. 8; "The Governor's Garden", Historic England, retrieved 31 August 2015
- ^ https://research-information.bristol.ac.uk/files/34488891/D203037_2.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "WELD (WILD), Humphrey (1612-85), of Lulworth Castle, Dorset and Weld House, St. Giles in the Fields, Mdx". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
- ^ "TRAVELL, Sir Thomas (c.1657-1724), of Jermyn Street, Westminster, Mdx. and Milborne Wick, Som". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
- ^ a b The Political State of Great Britain, Volume 8. p. 525.
- ^ "STEWARD, Gabriel (1731-92), of Nottington, Weymouth, Dorset". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
- ^ "STEWARD, Gabriel Tucker (c.1768-1836), of Berkeley Square, Mdx". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
- ^ "PENN, John (1760-1834), of Stoke Park, Stoke Poges, Bucks. and Pennsylvania Castle, Isle of Portland, Dorset". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
- ^ "Alterations in the Staff of the Army during the year 1834". The United Service Journal: 421. March 1835.
Bibliography
- Biddle, Martin; Hiller, Jonathon; Scott, Ian; Streeten, Anthony (2001). Henry VIII's Coastal Artillery Fort at Camber Castle, Rye, East Sussex: An Archaeological Structural and Historical Investigation. Oxford, UK: Oxbow Books. ISBN 0-904220-23-0.
- Chapple, Nick (2014). "A History of the National Collection: Volume Six, 1945–1953". Research Report Series. London, UK: English Heritage. ISSN 2046-9799.
- Fry, Sebastion (2014). "A History of the National Collection: Volume Two, 1900–1913". Research Report Series. London, UK: English Heritage. ISSN 2046-9799.
- Hale, J. R. (1983). Renaissance War Studies. London, UK: Hambledon Press. ISBN 0-907628-17-6.
- Harrington, Peter (2007). The Castles of Henry VIII. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4728-0380-1.
- King, D. J. Cathcart (1991). The Castle in England and Wales: An Interpretative History. London, UK: Routledge Press. ISBN 978-0-415-00350-6.
- Lawson, Susannah (2002). Portland Castle: Dorset. London, UK: English Heritage. ISBN 978-1-85074-725-3.
- Morley, B. M. (1976). Henry VIII and the Development of Coastal Defence. London, UK: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. ISBN 0-11-670777-1.
- Pettifer, Adrian (2002). English Castles: A Guide by Counties. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press. ISBN 978-0-85115-782-5.
- Saunders, Andrew (1989). Fortress Britain: Artillery Fortifications in the British Isles and Ireland. Liphook, UK: Beaufort. ISBN 1-85512-000-3.
- Symonds, Henry (1914). "Sandsfoot and Portland Castles". Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society. 35: 27–40.
- Thompson, M. W. (1987). The Decline of the Castle. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 1-85422-608-8.
- Walton, Steven A. (2010). "State Building Through Building for the State: Foreign and Domestic Expertise in Tudor Fortification". Osiris. 25 (1): 66–84. S2CID 144384757.
Further reading
- Andrews, E. A.; Pinsent, M. L. (1981). "The Coastal Defences of Portland and Weymouth". Fort (9): 4–43.