The castles of Walmer, Deal and Sandown were constructed between 1539 and 1540 under the rule of Henry VIII to protect the south coast of England from an invasion.
A short thread. 🧵
The design was rather unusual as it was based on circular artillery towers rather than using the trace italienne style of "star fort" fortification which was already popular at the time, but hasn't really been fully adopted in northern Europe.
An alternative version of the design of the castles.
The goal was to have as many cannons firing at the approaching invasion force.
Henry VIII saw the Catholic France and Holy Roman Empire as potential threats after he separated from Rome.
The castles are collectively known as the Castles of the Downs.
The Downs are an area of sheltered, favorable sea in the southern North Sea near the English Channel.
Two of these castles survived to this day so let's have a look.
The Walmer Castle looks like this today.
The Deal Castle has also been preserved.
However the Sandown Castle no longer exists.
Only ruins remain.
The castles did not see a Catholic invasion, but they did see some fighting as during the Second English Civil War of 1648-49, these coastal fortresses were briefly seized by pro-Royalist insurgents and were only retaken by Parliamentary forces after several months' fighting.
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