Yarmouth Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Wedged between the ferry quay and the mouth of the Yar, Yarmouth Castle is a small Tudor artillery fort two of whose walls drop straight into the Solent. It was the last link in the great coastal defence programme launched by Henry VIII from 1539, designed together with Hurst Castle, on the opposite shore, to lock the western entrance of the strait after the Franco-English fighting of 1545. Its main interest lies in its arrowhead bastion at the south-east corner: instead of the rounded bastions of Deal or Calshot, which left blind spots at the foot of the walls, this Italian-style salient made it possible to cover every approach. Historic England regards it as the oldest surviving example of this type in England. The fort was constantly adapted: an artillery platform under Elizabeth I, buttresses and heightening in 1609, the Long Room in 1632, then a house and garden laid out by the governor Sir Robert Holmes after 1679, who had the moats filled in. Garrisoned by a handful of gunners until 1885 and reoccupied during both World Wars, it has been in the care of English Heritage since 1984; visitors discover the history of the fort and of numerous shipwrecks, with a direct view over the harbour.