More information : (Area SZ 625 992). A fortification called Haselworth Castle was built in the late 1540s on the Gosport side of the entrance to Portsmouth harbour, a little south-west of the tower (SZ 69 NW 17) on Blockhouse Point. (1)
There are records of a Captain being appointed in 1545, and of the castle being 'beaten down' c 1600. (2)
No trace. Exact siting not ascertained, but presumably under Fort Blockhouse [SZ 69 NW 20]. (3)
Williams sites Haselworth Castle at or near the position of Fort Monkton [SZ 69 NW 21], (SZ 612978), not at Fort Blockhouse. (4)
Fort Haselworth is first mentioned in July 1545 and was certainly gunned by December 1547 when a survey of forts West of Portsmouth harbour was undertaken. King Edward VI showed great dissatisfaction with the repair as well as the location of the bulwark and forts flanking the harbour entrance after a visit in 1552, and it is likely that Fort Haselworth was scrapped, along with other outlying fortifications after a commission of survey was carried out by the Marquis of Winchester in 1556. (5)
Additional Bibliography. (6) |