Round towers, tiers of guns
How a Tudor gun fort was put together, and who kept it.
Jump to: Round forts | Guns in tiers | Crossfire | Not all round | The angle bastion | Garrisons | What were they for?
Round forts
Some were small artillery “blockhouses”, as at Gravesend; others were large forts with circular designs. English Heritage: Tudors: War The big forts had squat, rounded shapes, built to fire guns in every direction. English Heritage: Tudors: War
Most of Henry’s artillery forts, built from 1539 onwards, had a central tower surrounded by rounded bastions. English Heritage: History of Yarmouth Castle The circular shape and several tiers let the guns fire outwards all the way round. English Heritage: Local Learning, Pendennis and St Mawes Castles
The same Deal page says they all share the circular design found at Deal, meant to protect them from all angles. English Heritage: Deal Castle, history and stories
Calshot has a round central keep. English Heritage: Calshot Castle
Guns in tiers
Deal Castle was built in 1539–40 on Henry VIII’s orders, designed for all-round fire from over 140 guns. English Heritage: History of Deal Castle Deal Castle had guns in five tiers. English Heritage: History of Deal Castle
Cannon were grouped closely together in each bastion to make a hit more likely. English Heritage: Tudors: War The new forts had big guns that could shatter enemy warships and troop ships. English Heritage: Local Learning, Pendennis and St Mawes Castles
In 1547 Deal had 57 guns. English Heritage: History of Deal Castle A castle fully armed with over 140 guns never actually happened. English Heritage: History of Deal Castle
St Mawes is a four-storey artillery fort. English Heritage: History of St Mawes Castle At St Mawes you can see an arrow and gun slit, called a “loop”, in the wall. English Heritage: History of St Mawes Castle
A dark, narrow passage called the “Rounds” runs all the way round the castle. English Heritage: Deal Castle
Crossfire
Henry built gun forts on opposite shores, at Pendennis and St Mawes. English Heritage: History of Pendennis Castle Two castles guarded Carrick Roads, with crossfire across the anchorage. English Heritage: History of St Mawes Castle
Deal was the centre of three Tudor artillery forts, with Walmer to the south and Sandown to the north. English Heritage: Deal Castle, history and stories Between the three castles were four more gun forts of earth and timber, linked by a bank and ditch. English Heritage: History of Walmer Castle
It was one of two forts guarding Portland Roads; the other was Sandsfoot Castle. English Heritage: History of Portland Castle
Not all round
Portland was not built to a circular design: its main gun battery is a curved segment facing the sea. English Heritage: History of Portland Castle Behind the battery is a chevron-shaped keep. English Heritage: History of Portland Castle
St Mawes has a clover-leaf shape. English Heritage: St Mawes Castle
Our sources describe the shapes differently: see when sources disagree.
The angle bastion
Round designs left blind spots at the foot of the bastion walls. English Heritage: History of Yarmouth Castle The angle bastion was an Italian idea. English Heritage: History of Yarmouth Castle
An angle bastion is usually shaped like an arrowhead with four straight sides. English Heritage: History of Yarmouth Castle Its two faces fire at the enemy, and its two flanks fire along the walls. English Heritage: History of Yarmouth Castle
It is a square fort with a high wall, washed by the sea on two sides. English Heritage: History of Yarmouth Castle On its land sides Yarmouth was defended by an angle bastion and a wet moat. English Heritage: History of Yarmouth Castle
The round castle was open to close attack from the land side. English Heritage: History of Pendennis Castle The new fortress was a long five-sided shape, with a high rampart, a ditch and a bastion at each corner. English Heritage: History of Pendennis Castle
Garrisons
The garrisons were small: in peacetime they looked after the fort, showed the king’s government was there and kept watch. English Heritage: History of Portland Castle
Its first captain, Thomas Mervin, had only four gunners and two other men. English Heritage: History of Portland Castle In 1547 Portland had 15 guns, plus 23 longbows, 24 bills and 14 pikes. English Heritage: History of Portland Castle
The garrison was small, never more than 15 people, and sometimes just a master gunner. English Heritage: History of St Mawes Castle Until the early 1700s the garrison was usually 19 men. English Heritage: History of Walmer Castle
It held up to 100 men, but only when there was a threat. English Heritage: History of Pendennis Castle By 1552 Yarmouth had a captain, Richard Udall, a porter and 17 soldiers, with 12 heavy guns, 140 longbows and 223 bills. English Heritage: History of Yarmouth Castle
What were they for?
He built over 30 new gun forts to stop enemies capturing harbours and estuaries along the east and south coasts. English Heritage: Tudors: War The new forts had big guns that could shatter enemy warships and troop ships. English Heritage: Local Learning, Pendennis and St Mawes Castles
Three castles were to protect the open beaches around Deal and the Downs, an important offshore anchorage for the navy. English Heritage: History of Deal Castle It guards Carrick Roads, a deep estuary at the mouth of the River Fal. English Heritage: History of Pendennis Castle
It guarded the Needles Passage, only about 1,280 metres wide. English Heritage: History of Hurst Castle Calshot Castle was built by Henry VIII to defend the sea passage to Southampton. English Heritage: Calshot Castle
Camber Castle is an unusually unaltered artillery fort built to guard the port of Rye. English Heritage: Camber Castle Upnor Castle is a rare Elizabethan artillery fort, begun in 1559, built to protect warships at Chatham. English Heritage: Upnor Castle
Our sources describe the threat in different ways: see when sources disagree.
Our sources give dates in different ways, and some disagree by a year or tell a story differently. We copy each figure as its source gives it, rather than converting, so every figure matches its link. Every fact was checked against its source on the date shown on the sources page. See when sources disagree for the open questions side by side.