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Yarmouth Castle

Yarmouth Castle

George Mills

Location
Isle of Wight, England
Client / Owner
Henry VIII
Year
Completed 1547
Access
Tickets required
Style
—

Yarmouth Castle is an artillery fort at Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight, England, and one of Henry VIII's Device Forts. It was built in 1547 to protect Yarmouth Harbour from French attack. George Mills built it under Richard Worsley, Captain of the Island, and was paid £1,000 on completion. The first garrison was about 20 men with 15 guns.

The fort is square, nearly 100 feet (30 m) across, and built around a central courtyard. Its arrow-head bastion on the landward side, an Italian-influenced design, was the first of its kind in England. Half the courtyard was later filled to form a solid gun platform, and Charles II's government refortified the castle in the 1670s.

The guns were withdrawn in 1885, and it served the military in both World Wars. Today English Heritage operates it, and it is Grade I listed.

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