Things people “know” about the Tudor forts
Some are half true. Some are just wrong.
Myth Henry VIII built his forts because an invasion was certain.
Fact Portland’s history page says how real the invasion threat was is debatable. English Heritage: History of Portland Castle Walmer’s history page says it was built against the “perceived threat” of invasion from Europe. English Heritage: History of Walmer Castle
Myth Every Tudor fort was round.
Fact 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 It is a square fort with a high wall, washed by the sea on two sides. English Heritage: History of Yarmouth Castle
Myth The forts were full of soldiers all the time.
Fact 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 The garrison was small, never more than 15 people, and sometimes just a master gunner. English Heritage: History of St Mawes Castle
Myth Deal was always armed with over 140 guns.
Fact A castle fully armed with over 140 guns never actually happened. English Heritage: History of Deal Castle In 1547 Deal had 57 guns. English Heritage: History of Deal Castle
Myth The forts were the best design for centuries.
Fact The forts turned out to be a dead end in fort design, but they were strong obstacles for many years. English Heritage: Tudors: War The angle bastion became the main way to build forts for the next 300 years. English Heritage: Tudors: War
Myth Henry’s forts were the first gun towers in England.
Fact Before Henry’s programme there were already gun towers, for example at Dartmouth in the 1490s. English Heritage: Tudors: War Camber had a gun tower from 1512, and St Catherine’s Castle at Fowey had one from about 1520. English Heritage: Tudors: War
Myth The forts saw no fighting at all.
Fact No invasion ever came, but Walmer later saw action in the English Civil Wars. English Heritage: History of Walmer Castle In 1646 about 1,000 people held out in a five-month siege and surrendered in August when the food ran out. English Heritage: History of Pendennis Castle
Myth The angle bastion was an English invention.
Fact The angle bastion was an Italian idea. English Heritage: History of Yarmouth Castle
Myth Everyone agrees how many forts there were.
Fact He built over 30 new gun forts to stop enemies capturing harbours and estuaries along the east and south coasts. English Heritage: Tudors: War By the end of Henry’s reign in 1547, Deal was one of 42 new artillery forts protecting ports, anchorages and estuaries. English Heritage: History of Deal Castle
Myth The forts were only used in Tudor times.
Fact Both castles stayed in military use from 1540 until 1956. English Heritage: History of St Mawes Castle Hurst is one of very few of Henry’s castles to have been updated again and again, so it stayed in military use into the mid-1900s. English Heritage: Significance of Hurst Castle
Want pupils to weigh the evidence for themselves? The Tudor Forts History Detective Pack asks why Henry VIII built his coastal forts and how real the threat was, with six short sources and their provenance, an evidence table, a dates task, questions the sources answer differently, a judgement task and full answers (paid download, $4.49 USD, A4 and US Letter).