CALSHOT CASTLE

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A Henrician artillery castle built in 1539-40 by Henry VIII as part of his network of coastal defences defending against the threat of French and Spanish attacks. The castle was built to defend the entrance to Southampton Water and was part of the Solent defences along with East and West Cowes and Hurst Castle. The castle was altered various times in circa 1770, 1868-71 and in the 20th century. Three searchlights (Defence Electric Lights) were constructed circa 1896 and a coastal battery was built in 1902. The castle became part of RAF Calshot in the First and Second World Wars and continued to be used as a seaplane base until it closed in 1961. The coastal battery was re-equipped in the Second World War as part of the Southampton Water coastal defence system. Calshot Castle was restored by the Department of Environment in 1985.
The stone built castle consists of a three-storey central tower surrounded by a lower concentric curtain wall and a moat. There were no outer bastions. It was equipped with eight embrasures and 18 gun-ports on three tiers of the tower and on the curtain wall. The gatehouse had a further three guns to defend the castle from being attacked along the spit it was built on. Entrance to the fort was across a drawbridge on the south-east side and through the two storey gatehouse.
In 1902 a coastal battery was constructed at the castle and armed with two 4.7 inch Quick-firing (QF) and four 12 pounder QF guns. These were changed in the Second World War to two 12 pounder QF guns.

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(Centred SU 48800240) CALSHOT CASTLE (OE) (1)

CALSHOT CASTLE. A small fort built by Henry VIII with stones from the ruins of Beaulieu Abbey. The arms of Queen Elizabeth (I) and the letters ER, on a waterspout witness late work on the castle. (2-4)

An account of subsequent repairs carried out to this Castle in 1612. (Contains contemporary map/plan of Castle and its environments) (5)

"I know nothing of CALSHOT CASTLE other than what is recorded in the VCH. There is no plan or written description of it at RAF station Calshot." (6)

(SU 48880249) Calshot Castle, an almost intact sixteenth century coastal fort now part of RAF station Calshot, is a single tower surrounded by curtain wall and moat.

The Central Tower, 15.5m in diam & 10.5m high, consists of an octagonal ground floor and basement with two circular upper storeys.

Two shot-lockers (mostly now blocked) are set in each of the eight sides of the ground floor except the western side which is perforated by a large central entrance leading to the basement. This is flanked on one side by a small doorway (giving access to a side staircase to the upper floor), on the other by a shot locker and surmounted by a carved Royal coat-of-arms (fleurs-de-lis quartered first and fourth with the leopards of England) encircled by the Garter. Its large entrance suggests that the basement chamber was the arms store: there is no evidence of any original partitions within the basement.

There are eight gun embrasures on the second floor one above each angle of the ground floor - and various windows, apparently not original, opening from the first. The flat roof has a parapet wall, modern gun platforms and a modern brick built superstructure. On the NNE side of the tower is a complete lead drainpipe, the drain-head bearing the cypher 'ER', a crown and a Tudor rose. Two similar pipes are not decorated.

The 16 sided curtain wall, concentric with the tower, has an external battery. The western part - with a four-centred arched gateway, with portcullis grooves, drawbridge slits and chain holes - is almost as high as the tower, whilst the rest is simply a breastwork with gun embrasures. In the space between curtain wall and tower much modern building has taken place.

Only the northern half of the 8-9m wide, flat-bottomed moat survives. It is now dry and was retained by an internally battered revetment wall, 2.2m high.

The castle, at the end of a pebble spit, is protected on the East by groining, probably contemporary. (7-8)

Additional references (9-11)

Calshot Castle located at SZ 488 025. In 1897 the castle gained a new battery, together with a boom defence on whose dolphins (called A and B) were mounted 12-pounder quick-firing (QF) guns. The battery was armed with two 4.7-inch QF guns and four 12-pounder QF guns. The guns were removed in 1906. In 1940 12-pounder guns were mounted on the roof of the castle and a supplementary battery was built opposite these guns (Bungalow Battery- HOB UID 831976). In 1943 Calshot Castle was reduced to care and maintenance. During the Second World War Calshot Castle Battery was manned by 165 Battery of 539 Coast Regiment. (12-13)

Detailed information on Calshot Castle can be attained from the Hampshire HER.
Artillery fort built 1539-40 by Henry VIII to defend the entrance to Southampton Water. Before the stone fort was constructed, a temporary earth and wood structure was probably built on the site. The stone castle was a fairly simple design and consisted of a 3 storey central gun tower, a lower concentric curtain wall and a walled moat. The basement floor of the tower is octagonal and the upper 2 storeys round. Guns were mounted in the curtain, upper storey and roof of the tower. The fort was accessed by a drawbridge in the SE and through a 2 storey gatehouse.

A coastal battery was built on the site of the castle in 1902 1902 It was first armed with 2 x 4.7 inch Quick-firing (QF) and 4 x 12 pounder QF guns. In the Second World War it was re-equipped with 2 x 12 pounder QF guns. (14)

Similar in design to Pendennis castle it was built 1539-40. A three-storey keep (15.5m wide by 10.5m high), low concentric curtain wall with a stone-lined moat. 8 embrasures and 18 gun-ports on the keep (roof, first and second floors) and curtain wall. Three additional guns were located on the gatehouse. The gun platforms were clad with lead which had been removed from Beaulieu Abbey. (15)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 1" 1940/42

( 2) edited by William Page 1908 The Victoria history of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, volume three

The Victoria history of the counties of England Page(s)292

( 3) Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society newsletter

1932-24, Williams-Freeman 12 Page(s)214

( 4) General reference

The New Forest 1895, 52 Plate (J R Wise)

( 5) Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society newsletter

17 Page(s)247-251

( 6) Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments

(7) Field Investigators Comments

F1 VJB 25-NOV-54

(8) Field Investigators Comments

F2 VJB 30-NOV-54

(9) Scheduled Monument Notification

01-JUL-1996

(10) English Heritage 1998 The English Heritage visitors' handbook 1998-99

Page(s)33

(11) by H M Colvin ... [et al] 1982 The history of the King's Works, volume 4 : 1485-1660 (Part 2)

Page(s)527-30

(12) C.S. Dobinson 2000 Twentieth century fortifications in England. Volume 6.1. Coast Artillery, 1900-1956

6.1 Page(s)167-176

(13) C.S. Dobinson 2000 Twentieth century fortifications in England. Volume 6.2. Coast Artillery, 1900-1956

6.2 Page(s)258

(14) World Wide Web page

Heritage Gateway. 2009. Hampshire Archaeology and Historic Building Record Calshot Castle, http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/gateway/chr/herdetail.aspx?crit=&ctid=97&id=4774 [Accessed 07-APR-2009]

(15) Harrington, Peter 2007 The Castles of Henry VIII

Page(s)24-25

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BUNGALOW BATTERY
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The Bungalow Battery augmented the defences of Calshot Castle with a pair of 12-pounder quick-firing guns and six searchlights. Calshot Castle, Bungal...

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