Pendennis Castle

Pendennis Castle
Cornwall
Type:	Device Fort
Location
Location:	50°8’50"N, 5°2’52"W
Town:	Falmouth
History
	Built 1539
Information
Condition:	Intact with later modifications
Owned by:	English Heritage

Pendennis Castle stands above the Fal Estuary at Falmouth in Cornwall, opposite its sister fort, St Mawes Castle. Pendennis and St Mawes are ‘Device Forts’, or Henrician castles, part of a chain of castles built for King Henry VIII as a defensive chain along the south coast of Great Britain.

Pendennis was built between 1539 - 1545 to guard the entrance to the River Fal on its west bank, which St Mawes Castle is on the east bank. They were built to defend Carrick Roads from the French and Spanish threats of future attack. The castle comprises a simple round tower and gate enclosed by a lower curtain wall. It is now in the care of English Heritage.

Construction

Pendennis Castle was built as one of a chain of forts running along the coast of the southern half of Britain from Hull to Milford Haven. This was in response to the threat of invasion to Henry VIII from the French and Spanish, which threat was heightened after Henry’s divorce from the Spanish king’s aunt and his sundering of the Church of England from Rome; the pope was encouraging invasion and the French and Spanish fleets knew Carick Roads well and that the water was undefended.

Siege of 1646

Coastguard and Henrician castle, view from Pendennis Head

Pendennis Castle had a role in the Civil War. It was the last Royalist position in the West Country and a Royalist garrison withstood a five-month siege (March 1646 to 17 August 1646 and last castle to fall in England) from Parliamentarian forces before surrendering. The Parliamentary forces attacked the castle from both land and sea, and the Cornish Royalist garrison at Pendennis was under the command of the 70-year-old Sir John Arundel, aided by Sir Henry Killigrew. Pendennis was the third from the last stronghold—before Raglan Castle and Harlech Castle—to hold out for the Royalists. About 1000 men, women and children survived the 155-day siege at the castle before being forced to surrender because of starvation. Previously it had given sanctuary to Queen Henrietta Maria, and the Prince of Wales (later King Charles II), before their escape to France.

Crab Quay

Crab Quay lies below Pendennis Castle on the northeast face of the headland. It is the most suitable location for a landing, and a battery was built here in the late 17th or early 18th century, first recorded on a map of 1715.

Below Crab Quay battery are five "D"-shaped concrete platforms just above the water level. These were the foundations for searchlights supporting the Middle Point battery. All surface structures belonging to Middle Point were demolished in the 1960s.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Pendennis Castle)

• Bibliography of sources relating to Pendennis Castle
• Read a detailed historical record on Pendennis Castle
• Pendennis Castle - information and history at English Heritage

References

Books

• Colvin, H. M. (ed) (1982). The History of the King's Works, Vol. IV, 1485–1600, Part II. London: H.M. Stationery Office
• Fry, Plantagenet Somerset (1980) The David & Charles Book of Castles. Newton Abbot: David & Charles ISBN 0-7153-7976-3
• Harrington, Peter (2007). The Castles of Henry VIII. Oxford: Osprey ISBN 978-1-84603-130-4
• Jenkins, S., "Pendennis Castle, Cornwall", Fort (Fortress Study Group), No. 25, 1997, pp. 169–235
• Linzey, Richard (1999). The Castles of Pendennis and St. Mawes. London: English Heritage ISBN 1-85074-723-7
• Morley, B. M. (1976). Henry VIII and the Development of Coastal Defence. London: H.M. Stationery Office ISBN 0-11-670777-1