Portland Castle
Portland Castle is a fortress that Henry VIII built on the Isle of Portland in 1539 . After the English Reformation, Henry VIII saw himself threatened by the Catholic part of Europe and built a number of fortresses to protect the country. Portland Castle and Sandsfoot Castle across from it secured the port of Portland . Portland Castle is in the Castletown community, which is also home to the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy .
Portland Castle is built low so that there is little attack surface. The fortress has rounded walls on the lake side, which can catch projectiles well. On the land side, the facility is secured by a ditch.
Although the fort was reinforced to repel an attack by the Spanish Armada , it played no role in the sea battle at Portland on July 23, 1588, which was victorious for the English.
Portland Castle was fought over in the English Civil War . Traditionally owned by the crown, Portland supported King Charles I and was a royalist stronghold. The neighboring Weymouth, however, was a stronghold of Cromwell . A number of battles were fought for the fortress and it changed hands several times, but the Isle of Portland remained in the hands of the royalists for most of the war. It did not fall until 1646.
The sea battle at Portland in the First Anglo-Dutch War took place east of the island again outside the reach of the fort.
With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Charles II rewarded the support of the crown in the civil war with a regular payment for the stone that is extracted in the royal quarries.
Portland Castle was last on defense readiness during the Napoleonic Wars .
Today it is a museum managed by English Heritage and is open to the public.
literature
- Peter Harrington: The castles of Henry VIII . Osprey, Oxford 2007, ISBN 9781846031304 .
- Susannah Lawson: Portland Castle . English Heritage, London 2002, ISBN 1850747253 .
- BM Morley: Henry VIII and the development of coastal defense . HM Stationery Office, London 1976, ISBN 0116707771 .
- Morris Stuart: Portland. An Illustrated History . The Dovecote Press, Wimborne, Dorset 1985, 2004, ISBN 0-946159-34-3 .
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 34 ′ 4 " N , 2 ° 26 ′ 48.1" W.