Sandsfoot Castle
Sandsfoot Castle is one of Henry VIII's Device Forts, also known as Henrician Castles, built in the 1530s to the west of Weymouth, Dorset, England, opposite its contemporary Portland Castle. Together these two forts put the whole of Portland harbour and the roads within range of their artillery, thus protecting shipping from foreign raiders, and preventing an invading landing force from forming up offshore. Some of the stone used in the construction possibly came from Bindon Abbey, near Wool, following the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
The castle was rectangular with two storeys and dungeons. It was orientated on a north-west/south-east axis and provided a heavy gun emplacement, quarters for its garrison and underground magazines and was surrounded by a ditch and a series of ramparts.
Designed specifically as a coastal defence, Sandsfoot Castle was always vulnerable to attack from a landward direction, and often changed hands during the English Civil War. The castle dungeons were used as a mint during the Civil War, giving it a greater importance to both defenders and attackers.
Most of the castle has fallen into the sea, but the site is easily accessible as a local park. The site also includes a small sandy beach named Sandsfoot Cove.
In recent times the castle has been fenced off in order to protect visitors from falling masonry.[1] In 2011 the Heritage Lottery Fund made a grant of £194,700 to pay for the castle to be restored so it could be opened to the general public.[2]
References
- ^ "Restoration hope for castle ruin". BBC News. BBC. 21 December 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
- ^ "Lottery cash for crumbling Sandsfoot Castle in Weymouth". BBC News. BBC. 6 January 2011. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
The restoration work is now completed. This comprises some stabilisation of the masonry and the construction of an internal walkway that follows the inside of the walls. There is also a small viewing gallery overlooking Portland Harbour and the area of the gun platform, which had fallen into the sea many centuries ago.
Further reading
- Colvin, H.M. (ed) (1982). The History of the King's Works, Vol. IV, 1485–1600, Part II.
- Drew, Joseph (1876). The Poisoned Cup: a quaint tale of old Weymouth and Sandsfoot Castle in the days of Queen Bess. Reprinted many times up to 1963. Weymouth: Sherren & Son.
- Harrington, Peter (2007). The castles of Henry VIII. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84603-130-4
- Morley, B. M. (1976). Henry VIII and the development of coastal defence. London: H.M. Stationery Office. ISBN 0-11-670777-1
See also
- Device Forts
- Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
- List of castles in England
- List of Dorset beaches
- Jurassic Coast
External links
| Essex / Suffolk |  | |
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| Kent / Sussex | ||
| Pembrokeshire | ||
| The Thames | ||
| Isle of Wight / Solent | ||
| Cornwall / Devon / Dorset | ||
| Yorkshire and the Humber | ||
50°35′42.8″N 2°27′38.96″W / 50.595222°N 2.4608222°W
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