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

Salcombe Salcombe is a popular 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 ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England, within the

South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty The South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) 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 Outstandi ...

. 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 or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

and

ancient monument In British law, an ancient monument is an early historical structure or monument (e.g. an archaeological site) worthy of preservation and study due to archaeological or heritage interest. The '' Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 197 ...

. 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

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

. It was built by subscription under Lord 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 best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...

, (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 or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same 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 ...

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

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

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 A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

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 William Lane (6 September 1861 – 26 August 1917) was an English-born journalist, author, advocate of Australian labour politics and a utopian socialist ideologue. Lane was born in Bristol, England into an impoverished family. After showin ...

. They were then mounted in what is now the

Italian garden The Italian garden (or giardino all'italiana () is best known for a number of large Italian Renaissance gardens which have survived in something like their original form. In the history of gardening, during the Renaissance, Italy had the most ...

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 7th 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 and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

) at which time it was mounting five guns on gun carriages (two of which were unusable), 1 X 5 1/4 lb. 6ft 10 stone; 1 X 5 1/4 lb. 6ft. 11 stone; 1 x 5 1/4lb. 6ft. 6ins, 11 stone; 1x4lb X 6ft. 13 stone and 1 X 3lb. 4ft, 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, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

, the Salcombe Castle Preservation group,

the Sealed Knot The Sealed Knot was a secret Royalist association which plotted for the Restoration of the Monarchy during the English Interregnum. The group was commissioned by King Charles II between November 1653 and February 1654 from his exile in Paris fo ...

and the

South Hams South Hams is a local government district on the south coast of Devon, England. Services divide between those provided by its own Council headquartered in Totnes, and those provided by Devon County Council headquartered in the city of Exete ...

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