St Mawes Castle
St Mawes Castle | |
---|---|
Second World War
| |
Official name | St Mawes Castle |
Designated | 9 October 1981 |
Reference no. | 1013807 |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
Official name | St Mawes Castle, gatehouse, blockhouse, magazine and outer defences |
Designated | 25 June 1985 |
Reference no. | 1136705 |
St Mawes Castle (
The castle continued in use as a fort through the 18th and 19th centuries. In the early 1850s, fears of a fresh conflict with France, combined with changes in military technology, led to the redevelopment of the fortification. The out-dated Henrician castle was turned into a
Brought back into service in the
The castle is a scheduled monument[1] and Grade I listed building.[2]
History
16th–17th centuries
Construction
St Mawes Castle was built as a consequence of international tensions between England,
In 1533, Henry broke with Pope
The stretch of water known as
The
Initial operation
Michael Vyvyan, a member of the local gentry, was appointed as the first captain of St Mawes and the surrounding land in 1544, and was followed by
Meanwhile, the invasion threat from France passed and a lasting peace was made in 1558, but the Spanish threat to the south-west of England grew in importance to the government.[25] War broke out in 1569, with the threat of invasion and the garrison at St Mawes was strengthened: in 1578 it comprised 100 soldiers.[26] An additional battery of guns was built to allow the fort to fire further upriver.[27] Fears of a Spanish attack continued especially after the failed Armada of 1597; two earth and timber bastions were built out from the original stone castle to hold guns, eventually becoming the main batteries for the castle.[28] By 1623 the castle held two brass culverins, six iron culverins, one demi-culverin and one saker, with a small garrison of 14 men, overseen by a captain and a lieutenant.[29] A survey in 1634 indicated structural problems, and suggested that £534 was needed for repairs.[30][a]
English Civil War and Restoration
When
The captain of St Mawes, Major Hannibal Bonithon, was invited by Colonel
The castle was placed on a "care and maintenance" footing, with a skeleton garrison.
18th–19th centuries
The castle continued in use as a fort through the 18th and 19th centuries under the command of successive captains, still operating in conjunction with Pendennis. A review by Colonel Christian Lilly in 1714 reported that the fortification was in a satisfactory condition, and in the 1730s, St Mawes was equipped with 17 artillery pieces, including six 24-pounder (11 kg) cannons, mostly positioned in the batteries beneath the Henrician castle.[38] Britain's wars with France in the late-18th century made the defence of Falmouth critical and from 1775 until 1780 the local militia was called up to defend St Mawes.[39] By the 1780s, the castle was equipped with over 30 pieces of heavy artillery.[40] There were repeated concerns emerged about its ordnance, however, and an inspection in 1797 during the French Revolutionary Wars found that only one 24-pounder gun was serviceable.[38]
In 1796, a new gun battery was created at St Anthony Head, just along the coast from St Mawes.[41] For a period this battery became the primary defensive position on the east side of the estuary, although in 1805 St Mawes was still armed with ten 24-pounder guns.[41] The poet Lord Byron, visiting in 1809, complained that St Mawes was "extremely well calculated for annoying every body except an enemy", and commented that the fort was garrisoned by only one, elderly man.[42] At the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the St Anthony's battery was closed but St Mawes remained in use, albeit being operated once again on a "care and maintenance" basis in the post-war years.[43]
Falmouth Harbour became one of the most important ports in England during the 19th century, attracting much of the
Fresh concerns about France rose in the 1880s, and an electrically operated
20th–21st centuries
A 1905 review of the Falmouth defences concluded that the naval artillery at St Mawes had become superfluous, as the necessary guns could be mounted at combination of Pendennis and the recently re-established battery at St Anthony's instead.
With the outbreak of the
The castle was removed from active service in January 1945 and reopened to the public the following year.[54] The Second World War gun battery was finally closed in 1956 after several years of use as a training site.[54] Between 1945 and 1970, much of the Victorian earthwork and concrete defences were cleared from the Grand Sea Battery, and the 1941 battery was completely destroyed.[55]
In the 21st century, St Mawes Castle is operated by
Architecture
St Mawes Castle is situated on a headland over the Carrick Roads, overlooked by higher land to the rear.[58] At the top of the site is the entrance to the castle, the high-level gun batteries and the 16th-century Henrician Castle; the terraced site slopes down to the water, where gun batteries and the 16th-century blockhouse look out across the water.[58]
Henrician castle
The central castle is built from slatestone rubble, with granite features and detailing; it has a clover leaf design with a central, four-storey circular tower, or keep, at its core, and three circular bastions emerging from it.[59] The design allowed for multiple levels of artillery, and may have been influenced by the contemporary work of the Moravian engineer, Stefan von Haschenperg, on some of the other Device Forts constructed during this period.[60] It had little protection to the landward side, and would have depended upon the local militia providing protection against such an attack.[61] The castle has been little altered since its original construction, and the historian Paul Pattison considers it to be "arguably the most perfect survivor of all Henry's forts".[62]
The castle is extensively decorated with carvings and inscriptions in stone and wood, praising Henry VIII and his lineage, leading the historian
The castle is entered through the
The central tower is 47 feet (14 m) across and 44 feet (13 m) high, with 8 feet (2.4 m) thick walls.[67] The basement was originally a kitchen and storerooms, with the first floor was subdivided and used by the garrison, before being later converted for storing gunpowder.[68] The bridge across the moat leads into the second storey, which originally had four chambers with fireplaces and windows, linked by a central corridor; this area may have been used by the castle's officers, and to house an enlarged garrison in an emergency.[69] The third floor forms a single, large room with gun embrasures, and was probably used by the garrison as living accommodation.[70] Above it, the parapetted gun platform on the fourth floor could support up to seven guns and incorporates a lookout turret, topped by a 17th-century cupola, designed as a daymark to guide passing ships.[71]
The central tower is linked to the forward bastion, 59 feet (18 m) in diameter, which in turn has steps leading to the side bastions, each 54-foot (16.4 m) across.[67] Each of the bastions forms a gun platform, with embrasures for larger artillery pieces - five in the forward bastion, three on each of the sides - as well as swivel mounts for lighter guns, and parapets for protection.[72] The forward bastion's roof is modern and was added after an archaeological debate in the 1960s as to whether the bastions would originally have been covered.[73] The bastions have various 18th- and 19th-century artillery pieces on display, as well as a bronze saker dating from 1560 called the Albergheti gun, recovered from a shipwreck off the coast of Devon.[74]
Batteries and auxiliary buildings
Gun batteries and other auxiliary buildings stretch across the St Mawes Castle site. Above the Henrician castle is the 12-pounder quick-firing high-level battery, dating from the start of the 20th century.[75] Its four concrete platforms and earth parapets have survived, along with an underground magazine just behind the site.[76] A small bungalow from this period at the entrance to the battery is still in use, serving as the English Heritage custodian's house.[77] Alongside the Henrician castle is the Engine House, approximately 41 feet (12 m) square and dating from around 1902.[78] It originally contained an internal combustion engine, generating power for the castle's searchlights, but was later converted into a storeroom.[79]
Beneath the Henrician castle is a complex of artillery positions, cut out of the rock from around 1854 onwards, and collectively known as the Grand Sea Battery.
Just below the Grand Sea Battery is the 16th-century blockhouse, positioned by the water's edge, 160 feet (49 m) from the Henrician castle.[13] The blockhouse is semi-circular in shape, with 56 feet (17 m) wide with 9.8-foot (3 m) thick stone walls facing the sea, but much thinner walls to the rear.[57] It originally had four gunports, one of which has since been blocked up, along with an upper gun platform and battlements.[57] The upper storey was later destroyed to turn it into a solid gun platform, although this has since been re-excavated.[85] Beside the blockhouse are the foundations of four searchlight emplacements dating from the Second World War.[83]
To the west of the Grand Sea Battery are landscaped gardens, built on top of earlier gun positions along the site.[83] Five 19th-century smooth-bore guns from the Napoleonic period are on display, forming a saluting battery.[86] Beyond the gardens is the site of the Second World War 6-pounder battery, but little now remains of this position.[83]
List of captains
- 1544–1561: Michael Vyvyan
- 1561–1603: Hannibal Vyvyan
- 1603–1632: Sir Francis Vyvyan (dismissed)
- 1633–1634: Sir Robert le Grys
- Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel(died 1646)
- ?–1646: Major Hannibal Bonithon (Royalist)
- 1646–?1660: George Kekewich (Parliamentarian)
- c.1650: Colonel Robert Bennett (Parliamentarian)
- 1660–?1665: Sir Richard Vyvyan, 1st Baronet
- 1665–1678: Sir Vyell Vyvyan, 2nd Baronet
- 1678–1696: Sir Joseph Tredenham
- 1696–1710: Hugh Boscawen, 1st Viscount Falmouth
- 1710–1714: Francis Scobell (MP for St Mawes)
- 1714–1734: Hugh Boscawen, 1st Viscount Falmouth
- 1734–?1740: Major De Roen [87]
- 1740–1745: Scipio Duroure (killed at the Battle of Fontenoy, 1745)[87]
- 1745–?1765: Alexander Duroure[87] (died 1765)
- 1765–1796: Sir Robert Pigot, 2nd Baronet[87]
- August 1796–November 1796: Colonel Edward Morrison (Governor of Chester, 1796–1844) [87]
- 1796–1849: Sir George Nugent, 1st Baronet[88]
See also
Notes
- ^ a b Comparing early modern costs and prices with those of the modern period is challenging. £5,018 in 1544 could be equivalent to between £2.1 million and £954 million in 2014, depending on the price comparison used. £534 in 1634 could equate to between £77,000 and £22 million. For comparison, the total royal expenditure on all the Device Forts across England between 1539–47 came to £376,500, with Sandgate Castle, for example, costing £5,584.[15]
References
- ^ Historic England. "St Mawes Castle (1013807)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
- ^ Historic England. "St Mawes Castle, gatehoue, blockhouse, magazine and outer defences (1136705)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
- ^ 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
- ^ Pattison 2009, p. 31; Jenkins 2007, p. 153
- ^ a b Jenkins 2007, p. 153
- ^ Jenkins 2007, p. 154; Pattison 2009, p. 34; Department of the Environment 1975, p. 19
- ^ a b Jenkins 2007, p. 154
- ^ Harrington 2007, p. 8
- ^ 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
- ^ Jenkins 2007, p. 155
- ^ Jenkins 2007, pp. 153, 156–157; "St Mawes Castle", Historic England, archived from the original on 24 September 2015, retrieved 26 August 2015
- ^ Pattison 2009, p. 28
- ^ Jenkins 2007, p. 155; Harrington 2007, p. 42
- ^ Department of the Environment 1975, p. 19; Oliver 1875, p. 84
- ^ Oliver 1875, p. 85
- ^ Department of the Environment 1975, p. 19; Oliver 1875, p. 86
- ^ Oliver 1875, p. 90
- ^ Department of the Environment 1975, p. 19; Oliver 1875, pp. 91, 93
- ^ Biddle et al. 2001, p. 40
- ^ Pattison 2009, p. 35
- ^ Jenkins 2007, p. 155; Pattison 2009, p. 35
- ^ Jenkins 2007, pp. 155–156; Pattison 2009, p. 38
- ^ Jenkins 2007, p. 156; Pattison 2009, p. 38
- ^ Bull 2008, p. 83
- ^ a b c Pattison 2009, p. 39
- ^ a b Pattison 2009, p. 39; Jenkins 2007, p. 156; Mackenzie 1896, p. 13; Oliver 1875, pp. 93–94
- ^ Pattison 2009, p. 40; Jenkins 2007, p. 156; Department of the Environment 1975, pp. 21–22
- ^ Jenkins 2007, p. 156
- ^ Oliver 1875, pp. 96–97
- ^ Oliver 1875, p. 97
- ^ Oliver 1875, p. 98
- ^ a b Pattison 2009, p. 41; Jenkins 2007, p. 157
- ^ Pattison 2009, pp. 41–42
- ^ Pattison 2009, p. 42
- ^ a b Pattison 2009, p. 42; Jenkins 2007, p. 157
- ^ Pattison 2009, p. 37
- ^ a b c Pattison 2009, p. 43
- ^ Jenkins 2007, p. 157
- ^ Oliver 1875, p. 101
- ^ Pattison 2009, p. 43; Jenkins 2007, p. 158
- ^ Jenkins 2007, pp. 158–159
- ^ a b Jenkins 2007, p. 159; Pattison 2009, p. 44
- ^ Jenkins 2007, p. 159
- ^ Jenkins 2007, pp. 159–160
- ^ a b Jenkins 2007, p. 161
- ^ Jenkins 2007, p. 161; Department of the Environment 1975, p. 7
- ^ a b c Jenkins 2007, p. 162
- ^ a b Jenkins 2007, p. 162; Pattison 2009, p. 48; Department of the Environment 1975, p. 7
- ^ Jenkins 2007, pp. 165–167
- ^ "St Mawes Castle", English Heritage, retrieved 26 August 2015; 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
- ^ a b c "List Entry", Historic England, retrieved 26 August 2015
- ^ a b "List Entry", Historic England, retrieved 26 August 2015; "Cornwall & Scilly HER", Heritage Gateway, retrieved 26 August 2015
- ^ a b c Pattison 2009, p. 20; Jenkins 2007, p. 163; "List Entry", Historic England, retrieved 26 August 2015
- ^ Jenkins 2007, p. 154; Hale 1983, p. 73
- ^ Pattison 2009, p. 32
- ^ Pattison 2009, p. 19
- ^ Pattison 2009, pp. 19–20; Department of the Environment 1975, p. 22; "List Entry", Historic England, retrieved 26 August 2015
- ^ Pattison 2009, p. 20; Jenkins 2007, p. 164
- ^ "List Entry", Historic England, retrieved 26 August 2015; Pattison 2009, p. 26; Jenkins 2007, p. 154
- ^ a b Pattison 2009, p. 20; Jenkins 2007, p. 162
- ^ a b Jenkins 2007, p. 163; "List Entry", Historic England, retrieved 26 August 2015
- ^ Pattison 2009, p. 23
- ^ Pattison 2009, pp. 20–22; Jenkins 2007, p. 163
- ^ Pattison 2009, p. 22
- ^ Pattison 2009, p. 23; "St Mawes Castle", Historic England, archived from the original on 24 September 2015, retrieved 26 August 2015
- ^ Jenkins 2007, pp. 163–164
- ^ Jenkins 2007, p. 164
- ^ Pattison 2009, pp. 22, 26
- ^ Jenkins 2007, p. 168
- ^ Jenkins 2007, pp. 168–169
- ^ Jenkins 2007, p. 169
- ^ a b Jenkins 2007, p. 165
- ^ Jenkins 2007, pp. 164–165
- ^ Pattison 2009, p. 26
- ^ Jenkins 2007, p. 165; "List Entry", Historic England, retrieved 26 August 2015
- ^ Jenkins 2007, p. 166
- ^ a b c d Jenkins 2007, p. 167
- ^ Jenkins 2007, p. 166; Pattison 2009, p. 26
- ^ Jenkins 2007, p. 166; "List Entry", Historic England, retrieved 26 August 2015
- ^ Jenkins 2007, pp. 167–168; Pattison 2009, p. 28
- ^ a b c d e Oliver, Samuel. Pendennis and St. Mawes: An Historical Sketch of Two Cornish Castles ... p. 101.
- ^ "No. 13948". The London Gazette. 5 November 1796. p. 1062.
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 0904220230.
- Bull, Stephen (2008). 'The Furie of the Ordnance': Artillery in the English Civil Wars. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press. ISBN 9781843834038.
- Department of the Environment (1975). Pendennis and St Mawes Castles. London, UK: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. ISBN 0116703091.
- Hale, John R. (1983). Renaissance War Studies. London, UK: Hambledon Press. ISBN 0907628176.
- Harrington, Peter (2007). The Castles of Henry VIII. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9781472803801.
- Jenkins, Stanley C. (2007). "St Mawes Castle, Cornwall". Fort. 35: 153–172.
- King, D. J. Cathcart (1991). The Castle in England and Wales: An Interpretative History. London, UK: Routledge Press. ISBN 9780415003506.
- Mackenzie, James D. (1896). The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure, Volume II. New York, US: Macmillan. OCLC 504892038.
- Morley, B. M. (1976). Henry VIII and the Development of Coastal Defence. London, UK: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. ISBN 0116707771.
- OCLC 23442843.
- Pattison, Paul (2009). Pendennis Castle and St Mawes Castle. London, UK: English Heritage. ISBN 9781848020221.
- Thompson, M. W. (1987). The Decline of the Castle. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 1854226088.
- 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.
External links
- English Heritage visitors' page
- Defending England's shores on Google Arts & Culture