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PORTLAND CASTLE

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Portland artillery castle was built by Henry VIII on the northern shore of the Isle of Portland as part of his network of coastal defences to protect against French and Spanish attacks. It was one of a pair of coastal fortifications, together with Sandsfoot Castle, which provided protection for the anchorage between Weymouth and Portland Bay. The two castles are positioned on opposite sides of the bay and are visible from each other. The construction of the fortification followed the advice of a Commission set up by Henry VIII in 1539, in response to a possible French invasion. It was probably completed by late 1540 and in service by early 1541. During the English Civil War the castle was the scene of fighting and was seized by both Parliamentarian and Royalist forces. Afterwards the castle became an ordnance store and then a prison. Between 1816-70 the castle became a private residence, however in the Second World War it was again used for military purposes. It was an ordnance depot and may have had other coastal defences added to it. Portland Castle has a central citadel which is fan-shaped in plan. The castle is constructed of ashlar dressed Portland Stone producing a 'rounded' external appearance. The citadel includes a single storey gun room facing across the harbour. The gun room was originally roofed and has embrasures for a further battery of five guns protected by an embattled parapet. This also shielded a second battery situated on the roof of the accommodation block. To the south and south east of the citadel was an outer yard which contained two gun platforms. Portland Castle is in the care of English Heritage.

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(SY 68457435) Portland Castle [NR] (1)

Portland Castle, at the north end of the Island (SY 684743), was built by Henry VIII as part of his coastal defence system against the threat of invasion by France and was in use late in 1540 (L. and P. Henry VIII, xv, 221; no. 502, 2). It cost £4964. 19s. 101/4d. (B.M., Harl. MSS 353, f. 100 v). On plan the castle forms a sector of a circle with a single-storey gun-room backed by a two-storey building with wings radiating east and north west from a central hall. The gun-room has embrasures for a battery of five guns; the embattled parapet over the gun-room protected a second battery and the middle part of the two-storey building could take a third battery also behind an embattled parapet. A yard on the south side of the castle, bounded by a wall formerly with a ditch outside it, contains gun platforms and a 17th-century building which on a plan of 1716 (Min. of P.B. & Wks. 95/2) comprises a brewhouse and stable with an extension to the east forming a sutler's house. Outer defences are now represented by one length of bank on the south east side, 30 yds. long, 16 yds. wide and rising to a maximum height of 4 ft.; it was probably part of these outer defences which was described in a survey of 1623 (B.M Harl. MS. 1326 ff. 726-75) as an 'ould trencher without the wall of the castle' and was to be 'throwne downe'. At the same time the 'Moate' was to be repaired; this was presumably the ditch against the wall of the yard which was still indicated on a survey of 1816 (PRO Wks 31/290) but is now completely obliterated.

The castle was the scene of some fighting during the Civil War, after which it was used as an Ordnance store and a prison. In 1660 a new entrance gateway was erected but by 1680 the castle was reported as being ruinous; restoration was carried out under Queen Anne in 1702 (Cal. Treasury Books, XVII pt. i, 108). In the first half of the 19th century it was modernised for residential occupation after being granted to the Rev. John Manning in 1816; he was succeeded by Capt. Charles Manning in 1834. After standing empty for some years the castle has recently been restored by the Ministry for Public Building and Works. (2-5)

No change. (6)

History of the castle. (7-8)

The castle defences and serviceable ordnance following a survey by the Duke of Marlborough in 1715 were deemed so poor that £408-3-10 was required to repair the defences and a further £61-4-0 for the guns. Of the 17 guns in the castle, only one 4 pounder was in good condition. (9)

There is a plan of the castle and adjacent ruined work dated 1738 in the Public Record Office. (10)

Coastal fortification. c 1540, one of Henry VIII's castles. Total cost of £4964-19-10d. Portland ashlar, lead and slate roof. Circular keep enclosing octagonal hall, flanked by wings at an obtuse angle, and enclosing a gun platform at upper level, contained in a segmental wall to seaward. A short cranked passageway gives access to the octagonal hall from the W side; on each side of the hall a large rectangular room at each level, that at ground floor to the SE being the former kitchen. The straight enclosing walls have various rectangular openings to splayed jambs, with a continuous weathered string at mid height, and a further string immediately below the bold segmental parapet with wide splayed gun ports. This detail is carried round the upper level of the roofed quarters. The seaward segment is set on a wide splayed glacis, and has 5 segmental-headed deep double-splayed gun ports, below the weathered string at the segmental parapet with 4 gun ports. The gun platform, behind the parapet with its walkway, is in stone flags. Interior: the ground floor has stone flags, and the upper floor is boarded, carried on heavy floor joists and beams, some of these are original. Walls are ashlar, unpainted. The octagonal hall is sub- divided at each level by timber and plaster partitions. The kitchen, to the right, has very deep splayed openings, to former gun-loops, with flat straight-sided inner arches. The great thickness of walls is shown by the dept of reveals to all openings. Various arched fireplaces; stone stairs with flat-slab stone ceilings. Portland Castle was one of a pair with Sandsfoot Castle in Weymouth, across the harbour and c 3km to the N. Portland originally had a defensive moat. In 1623 it had 13 guns, but by the time of the Civil War there were 21 guns. The Castle was held by the Royalists, but yielded in 1646. From 1816 it was occupied by the Manning family, and the adjacent Captain's House was built. In 1870 it reverted to the Crown, and in 1984 became an English Heritage Property in Care. (11)

Additional references. (12-13)

Listed by Cathcart King. (14)

Notes on the state of the castle in 1623. (15)

"Portland Bulwark" was built in 1540 as is one of the smallest of the network of Henrician castles. Its defensive position is solely coastal facing and it lacks all round defences. (16)

This site has a diverse and fascinating history beginning with its construction by Henry VIII to protect the anchorage from French and Spanish attack. It was involved in the English Civil War and later in the First and Second World Wars as a seaplane base and for the D-Day preparations respectively. (17)

Remains include: lime kilns and building layers relating to the construction of the castle, Civil War remains in the moat and prehistoric levels with flint and chert artefacts (Bronze Age). (18)

English Heritage produced an updated edition of their guidebook to Portland Castle in 2000. (19)

Results of tree-ring dating on a single timber from Portland Castle, published in 2000. The beam in the Great Hall was thought to date to the original construction of the castle, known to have taken place during the reign of Henry VIII, around AD 1538 - 40. Two cores were taken from the beam. The heartwood-sapwood boundary was evident on both cores, and the most likely felling date range for the timber was found to be AD 1503 - 35. This shows that the beam in the Great Hall is almost certainly original, and that it may possibly have been cut a few years before being used. Analysis of further timbers from this site may allow clarification of this interpretation. (20)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 1:10000 1974

(2) Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club

35 (1914) Page(s)34

(3) General reference

Ministry of Works. 1965. Portland Castle Official Guide

(4) Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England) 1970 An inventory of historical monuments in the County of Dorset. Volume two : south-east [in three parts]

Part 2 Page(s)250-2

(5) by Department of the Environment, Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings London 1978 List of ancient monuments in England: Volume 1, Northern England; Volume 2, Southern England; Volume 3, East Anglia and the Midlands

3 Page(s)82

(6) Field Investigators Comments

F1 JB 07-JUL-80

(7) by H M Colvin ... [et al] 1982 The history of the King's Works, volume 4 : 1485-1660 (Part 2)

Page(s)399, 404-5, 466-70

(8) by Ian V Hogg 1974 Coast defences of England and Wales, 1856-1956

Page(s)228-9

(9) Notes and queries for Somerset and Dorset

30 (1976) Page(s)155-7

(10) General reference

Maps and Plans of the Public Record Office 1967 303

(11) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

Weymouth and Portland 17/05/1993 969-1

(12) Scheduled Monument Notification

25/09/1997

(13) Genevieve Wheatley 1994 A teacher's handbook to Portland Castle

(14) by David J Cathcart King 1983 Castellarium anglicanum : an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the islands. Volume I : Anglesey - Montgomery

1 Page(s)127

(15) Fortress Study Group Fort : the international journal of fortification and military architecture

16, 1988 Page(s)46-7

(16) Harrington, Peter 2007 The Castles of Henry VIII

Page(s)22

(17) 2009 English Heritage Visitor Handbook 2009/10

Page(s)114

(18) Stewart Brown Associates [assessment & evaluation reports]

(19) English Heritage 2000 Portland Castle, Dorset [guide]

(20) Bridge, MC 2000 Tree-ring analysis of a timber from Portland Castle, Castleton, Dorset, Centre for Archaeology Reports 62/2000

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