Salcombe Castle or Fort Charles is a ruined fortification just off the beach of North Sands in

Salcombe Salcombe is a resort town in the South Hams district of Devon, south west England. The town is close to the mouth of the Kingsbridge Estuary, mostly built on the steep west side of the estuary. It lies within the South Devon Area of Outstand ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England, within the

South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty The South Devon National Landscape covers 337 square kilometres, including much of the South Hams area of Devon and the rugged coastline from Jennycliff Bay to Elberry Cove near Brixham. The purpose of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is ...

. It is located on a rocky outcrop which is easily reached on foot at low tide. It is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

and

ancient monument An ancient monument can refer to any early or historical manmade structure or architecture. Certain ancient monuments are of cultural importance for nations and become symbols of international recognition, including the Baalbek, ruins of Baalbek ...

. The ruined structure includes a four-story semicircular tower with gun ports near the top. It is connected by a section of wall to a rectangular tower which is high.

History

Salcombe Castle, first called the Bulwark, was originally built between 1535 and 1539 as a gun battery, with seven gun

embrasure An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of Age of Gunpowder, gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a sp ...

s. It was built by subscription under Viscount Courtenay's direction for protection against the French raids, not as part of the ‘Kinges Works’ of

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement w ...

, (26 volumes) under which most of the batteries and castles in the South and South West were built. It is thought that its build was overseen by Thomas Treffry of Fowey, who also oversaw several other coastal defences. It was built on a rocky promontory with no easy access, so a causeway stretching around the coast from Salcombe village had first to be constructed, of which signs still remain where they had to cut through various rocks, some still clearly visible, especially where it passes the little Woodcot Folly castle. Since then there is no record of the French attempting another raid there, so it seems to have been a success. During the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, it was twice raided by Parliamentary ships, and even once on July 12, 1545, surrounded, when the ship the ‘James’ with a force of 200 men, slipped out of

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

on an ebb tide and light south-westerly and sailed round to

where she anchored. The soldiers were disembarked and marched into

, where an officer called on the Castle to surrender. But when presumably the tide came in, the soldiers were re-embarked and returned to

, where they arrived on the 15th. In 1646, its Royalist governor, Col. Sir Edmund Fortescue of East Allington, held out for nearly five months when it was besieged by

Parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

forces under the overall command of Col. Weldon from Plymouth, together with Col. Richard Inglesby, who had brought his regiment, with its three guns, over from besieging Dartmouth. The guns were mounted on the top o
Rickham Common
above Sunny Cove. The three emplacements may still be found under the brambles there. In March heavier guns were brought up from

under the command of Col. Weldon, by then it
Parliamentary Governor
which was ambushed briefly at Pin End, the eastern end of the causeway across the River Avon from Aveton Giffard, by the Royalist Vicar William Lane. They were then mounted in what is now the

Italian garden Italian garden (or giardino all'italiana, ) typically refers to a style of gardens, wherever located, reflecting a number of large Italian Renaissance gardens which have survived in something like their original form. In the history of gardenin ...

i
The Moult garden
where a special track had to be dug and built (still in existence) straight down Moult Hill and down what is now the top Moult drive to take them. It had proved impossible to get them and their carriages and horses around the corners of the old winding track. With no hope of relief and with supplies running low, on 7 May the Royalist garrison finally surrendered Fort Charles. Although the castle was slighted after its surrender, it still remained in operation as a gun battery until at least 1717, (“Survey of Plymouth and District 1717 in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

) at which time it was mounting five guns on gun carriages (two of which were unusable), 1 X 5 1/4 lb. 6 ft 10 stone; 1 X 5 1/4 lb. 6 ft. 11 stone; 1 x 5 1/4 lb. 6 ft. 6ins, 11 stone; 1x4lb X 6 ft. 13 stone and 1 X 3 lb. 4 ft, 3 Stone, mounted on carriages, identified as former ship’s guns, and presumed to have been recovered from nearby shipwrecks.

Gallery

Image:Salcombecastle.JPG, Ruins taken from North Sands Image:Salcombecastle2.JPG, Taken from a boat in the estuary

References

*Some information derived from the commemorative plaque at North Sands erected by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

, the Salcombe Castle Preservation group, the Sealed Knot and the

South Hams South Hams is a non-metropolitan district, local government district on the south coast of Devon, England. Its council is based in the town of Totnes, although the largest town is Ivybridge. The district also contains the towns of Dartmouth, ...

District Council {{Reflist Device Forts Forts in Devon English Civil War Grade II listed buildings in Devon Scheduled monuments in Devon Salcombe