Netley Castle

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North wing of Netley Castle 2008

Netley Castle is a castle in the village of Netley on the coast of the English county of Hampshire . King Henry VIII had them erected as artillery in 1542 or 1544 as part of his Device Fort program to protect the south and east coast of England against attacks from France and the Holy Roman Empire . It protected Southampton Water near the Solent . The fort consisted of a stone donjon in the middle and two flanking gun platforms; his garrison were 10 men. In the English Civil War , it was decommissioned in 1743 and it was overgrown and lay in ruins. In the 19th century, the property was gradually converted into a private house and expanded in the neo-Gothic style , u. a. around octagonal towers. Between 1939 and 1998 the castle served as a nursing home until the high cost of its maintenance led to its closure. After an archaeological survey , it was converted into apartments. English Heritage has Netley Castle as a Historic Building II *. Grade listed.

history

16th and 17th centuries

Netley Castle was built in response to international tensions between England, France and the Holy Roman Empire during the final years of King Henry VIII's reign. Traditionally, the crown left coastal defense to local lords and communities and only played a modest role in building and maintaining fortresses. As long as France and the Holy Roman Empire were in conflict, there had been raids at sea, but a real invasion of England seemed unlikely. Limited defenses based on simple log houses and towers existed in the southwest and along the Sussex coast, and there were a few more impressive structures in the north of England, but in general the forts were limited in size.

Floor plan of the upper floors of the fortress from the 16th century with the donjon in the middle and the two attached gun platforms

In 1533 King Henry broke with Pope Paul III. to annul and remarry his long marriage to Catherine of Aragon . Catherine was the aunt of King Charles V of Spain , ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, and he saw the cancellation as a personal insult. This led France and the Holy Roman Empire to form an alliance against King Henry in 1538 and the Pope encouraged the two countries to attack England. An invasion of England seemed certain. In response to this, King Heinrich issued an order (English: Device) in 1539, in which he gave instructions for the "defense of the empire in times of invasion" and ordered the construction of forts along the English coastline.

Hetley Castle was built near Southampton Water , between the mouths of the Hamble and Itchen Rivers , about 250 meters southwest of the remains of Netley Abbey . Netley Abbey had recently by King Henry dissolved been and building blocks of the Abbey were reused for the construction of the fort. William Paulet , who later became the Marquess of Winchester , was entrusted with the construction, which took place in either 1542 or 1544, and King Henry gave him a number of properties in return for his support for the fort and his garrison. The fort had the shape of a central donjon with a footprint of 19.5 meters × 14 meters and deep loopholes along the battlements and a gun platform on each side. Its appearance was similar to that of the nearby Southsea Castle . Initially it was garrisoned by two soldiers, six riflemen and a porter under the command of a captain.

In the mid-1620s, the fort was still occupied by a garrison and was still in use at the beginning of the English civil war between the supporters of King Charles I and those of Parliament in 1642. Captain Swaley , a Roundhead naval officer , captured Netley Castle late that year and decommissioned it as a fortress. During the interregnum , the fort was put back into service due to fear of a possible royalist invasion, but was abandoned as no longer necessary after the Stuart restoration by King Charles II . When Alexander Pope visited it in 1734, it was overgrown and in ruins.

18.-20. century

View of Netley Castle, 1844.jpg
Netley Castle in the 1840s. Outer facade facing the sea (above) and social event in the ruins (below)

William Chamberlayne inherited the fort in 1826 and, inspired by a suggestion by the historian Horace Walpole that the fort should be made habitable, had a crenellated tower built at the southeast end of the property the following year. A description of the fort from this period mentioned that it stood "in the middle of a thicket of trees on a small hill near the beach" and was "a striking object that can be seen from the water". It became popular with artists and visited by William Turner, and probably sketched the fort and its new tower in 1832.

George Hunt leased the fort in 1841 and had it converted into a private home under the supervision of architect George Guillame . Hunt stayed at Netley Castle until 1857; At that time the castle had a bay window with a view over the sea and the spaces between the battlements were filled in to enable the construction of a second floor. George Sherriff leased the castle from 1868 to 1873 and had a stone wall built around the front of the property.

Sir Henry Crichton bought the castle in 1881, along with the surrounding gardens, orchards, a pond and a boathouse . Architect John Sedding rebuilt the castle between about 1885 and 1890, creating a neo-Gothic style house . He added another floor and a new wing. After Crichton's death in 1922, his widow stayed in the house until she died in 1936. Then the property and the land were auctioned.

The Middlesex County Council bought the castle in 1939 and left her to a nursing home remodel for older men. In 1948, the house was administered by the National Health Service and continued to be used as a nursing home. It proved costly to maintain and the surrounding land sold off until the Southampton University Hospital NHS Trust decided to close the house in 1998.

21st century

Netley Castle 2011

Fairmist Ltd , a real estate company, bought Netley Castle in 2000 and converted it into nine private apartments for £ 1.7m . During this renovation, an archaeological survey of the property was carried out. Netley Castle is a Scheduled Monument and English Heritage has it as a Historic Building II *. Grade listed.

description

The castle now covers a floor area of ​​around 62 meters × 14 meters and is 13.5 meters high and surrounded by 1.54 hectares of land.

It consists of three wings, with the original 16th century fort forming the center of the building. The north wing is three stories high, built in a neo-Gothic style and has an octagonal turret at one end. The middle building suite is two stories high and has round corner turrets and battlements. The south wing is two stories high, has sophisticated neo-Gothic detailing and another octagonal but larger tower.

The castle has a large staircase with an organ built into it and a wood-paneled billiard room.

Other buildings on the property include a converted boathouse and a former ice house .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ MW Thompson: The Decline of the Castle . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1987. ISBN 1-854226-08-8 . P. 111.
  2. ^ A b John R. Hale: Renaissance War Studies . Hambledon Press, London 1983. ISBN 0-907628-17-6 . P. 63.
  3. ^ DJ Cathcart King: The Castle in England and Wales: An Interpretative History . Routledge Press, London 1991. ISBN 978-0-415003-50-6 . Pp. 176-177.
  4. ^ A b B. M. Morley: Henry VIII and the Development of Coastal Defense . Her Majesty's Bookshop, London 1976. ISBN 0-116707-77-1 . P. 7.
  5. ^ Peter Harrington: The Castles of Henry VIII . Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2007. ISBN 978-1-472803-80-1 . P. 5.
  6. ^ John R. Hale: Renaissance War Studies . Hambledon Press, London 1983. ISBN 0-907628-17-6 . Pp. 63-64.
  7. ^ John R. Hale: Renaissance War Studies . Hambledon Press, London 1983. ISBN 0-907628-17-6 . P. 66.
  8. ^ Peter Harrington: The Castles of Henry VIII . Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2007. ISBN 978-1-472803-80-1 . P. 6.
  9. ^ Peter Harrington: The Castles of Henry VIII . Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2007. ISBN 978-1-472803-80-1 . P. 11.
  10. ^ Steven A. Walton: State Building Through Building for the State: Foreign and Domestic Expertise in Tudor Fortification in Osiris . Issue 25. Number 1. 2010. P. 70.
  11. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Michael Heaton: Netley Castle, Hampshire . Michael Heaton Heritage Consultants. Archived from the original on September 25, 2006. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
  12. ↑ a b Parishes: Hound with Netley . British History Online. 1908. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
  13. ^ Peter Harrington: The Castles of Henry VIII . Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2007. ISBN 978-1-472803-80-1 . P. 32.
  14. ^ Andrew Saunders: Fortress Britain: Artillery Fortifications in the British Isles and Ireland . Beaufort, Liphook 1989. ISBN 1-855120-00-3 . P. 50.
  15. ↑ a b c d e f g h Netley Castle . Hampshire Gardens Trust. Archived from the original on August 18, 2015. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
  16. ↑ John Buller: A Companion in a Visit to Netley Abbey . 8th edition. T. Baker, London 1840. pp. 9-10.
  17. ^ William Guillame: Architectural Views and Details of Netley Abbey . Forbes and Knibbs, Southampton 1848. p. 24.
  18. ^ William Beattie: The Castles and Abbeys of England . George Virtue, London 1844. p. 239.
  19. ↑ John Chu: Netley Castle, Hampshire . Tate. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
  20. ^ William Guillame: Architectural Views and Details of Netley Abbey . Forbes and Knibbs, Southampton 1848. p. 4.
  21. ^ A b Nikolaus Pevsner, David Lloyd: The Buildings of England . Chapter: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight . Penguin Books, London 1967. ISBN 0-140710-32-9 . Pp. 348-350.
  22. ↑ a b c d e f g Netley Castle . Historic England. English Heritage. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
  23. ^ Projects: Netley Castle, Netley, Hampshire . Halstead Associates. Archived from the original on August 18, 2015. Retrieved July 27, 2016.

Web links

Commons : Netley Castle  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 52 ′ 40.8 "  N , 1 ° 21 ′ 36"  W.