St Mawes Castle

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St Mawes Castle

St Mawes Castle ( Cornish : Kastel Lannvowsedh ) and its larger sister castle Pendennis Castle were built at the behest of Henry VIII as part of a chain of forts on the south coast of the English county of Cornwall . This chain of coastal fortresses is also called Henrician Castles . St Mawes Castle was built from 1540 to 1545 halfway up the slope on the east bank of the River Fal estuary to protect Carrick Roads , a large bay near Falmouth, from attack by enemy forces.

history

St Mawes Castle is a device fort that was built in 1540–1545 as part of the fortifications ordered by Henry VIII on the south coast of England. Together with its sister castle Pendennis Castle, St Mawes Castle protected the entrance to Carrick Roads, one of the largest natural bays in the country. The castle was built just above an earlier fortification from the late 1530s. The construction work was overseen by Thomas Treffry , who was also responsible for the construction of Pendennis Castle around the same time. St Mawes Castle was equipped with a central tower that stands over three huge, circular bastions in a trefoil arrangement, which offer large areas for the installation of guns. The guns installed covered every angle of approach to the estuary. The clover leaf arrangement was originally intended for the construction of guns for sinking ships. During the English Civil War , St Mawes Castle was occupied by the royalists , but could not be defended against attacks from land and therefore had to be left to the parliamentary forces in 1646 . At the end of the 17th century, a lead-covered lantern was placed on the stair tower of the castle as a navigation aid or beacon .

In the late 18th century, during the Coalition Wars , a lower battery of guns was built below St Mawes Castle - it was armed with 12 guns and built with three flanks. Around 1870 the gun battery was equipped with four 64 pounder cannons. In 1898 it was converted to two 6-pounder rapid-fire guns and a heavy machine gun . These were loaded from a new underground magazine under the gun battery. The lower gun battery was replaced in 1903 by a more powerful gun battery installed higher up. During World War II , this battery was part of an extensive defense system on the headland.

Individual evidence

St Mawes Castle (in the foreground) and Pendennis Castle (in the background)
  1. ^ Place-names in the Standard Written Form (SWF) . Cornish Language Partnership. ( Memento of the original from May 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 14, 2015. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.magakernow.org.uk
  2. ↑ a b c d e St Mawes Castle . Pastscape. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  3. ^ Pendennis Castle . Pastscape. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  4. ^ St Catherine's Castle . Historic England. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  5. ↑ a b c d e Lower Gun Battery . Pastscape. Retrieved July 14, 2015.

literature

  • Howard M. Colvin (Ed.): The History of the King's Works, Vol IV., 1485-1600 . Part II, Her Majesty's Stationary Office, London 1982.
  • Plantagenet Somerset Fry: The David & Charles Book of Castles . David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1980, ISBN 0-7153-7976-3 .
  • Peter Harrington: The castles of Henry VIII . Osprey, Oxford 2007, ISBN 978-1-84603-130-4 .
  • Stanley C. Jenkins: Fort . Fortress Study Group, 2007. Volume 35. Chapter: St Mawes Castle. Pp. 153-172.
  • Richard Linzey: The Castles of Pendennis and St Mawes . English Heritage, London 1999, ISBN 1-85074-723-7 .
  • BM Morley: Henry VIII and the Development of Coastal Defense . Her Majesty's Stationary Office, London 1976, ISBN 0-11-670777-1 .

Web links

Commons : St Mawes Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 9 ′ 17.5 ″  N , 5 ° 1 ′ 25.6 ″  W.