Deal Castle
Henry VIII built three forts -Deal, Walmer and Sandown-along a two-mile stretch of shore to hamper any attacks. An earth rampart, with intermittent bastions, linked them but that has since perished. The whole scheme was finished by the fall of 1540.
Deal Castle, the central fort of the three, was the largest of all Henry VIII’s forts. Here the characteristic geometrical layout of the series attains its most elaborate form. The result, whether by accident or design, is a sexfoil plan reminiscent of a Tudor rose.
At the center is a squat, round tower with six semi-circular bastions projecting from its circumference, and surrounding that is a massive curtain arranged into six projecting lobes. There is thus a return to the concentricity of Edwardian castles, a key feature being the graduated height of the parapets to permit cannon fire from three levels simultaneously.
The stone-faced ditch is guarded by fifty-four gun ports set in the curtain, each one in a small chamber reached from the gallery at basement level. The gun ports are widely splayed embrasures typical of the Henrician era. One of the outer lobes is higher than the rest and contains the entrance, formerly reached by a drawbridge across the ditch.
Within the gate passage are all the traditional trappings of defense – portcullis groove, studded oak gates and murder holes in the vault. To reach the central tower, it is necessary to pass through the courtyard, in fact no more than a curving corridor between the central tower and the curtain. It would have been a death trap for attackers attempting to make their way to the tower entrance while under fire from either side.
The central tower had store rooms, garrison’s lodgings and the governor’s residence crammed into its three floors. Timber partitions radiate from a central stone shaft, which contains a spiral stair.
Donnington Castle
Donnington Castle crowns a hill above the River Lambourne, a mile north of Newbury, Sir Richard Abberbury, the queen’s chamberlain, obtained a license crenellate the place in 1386. In 1414 Thomas Chaucer, son of the poet, purchased the castle and through him it passed to the De la Pole dukes of Suffolk.
Donnington is notable for its role in the Civil War. After the first Battle of Newbury, Charles I entrusted the castle to Colonel (later Sir) John Boys. The Roundheads laid siege in July 1644 but were unable to take it in spite of a fierce artillery bombardment.
The King marched to the relief of the castle and the second Battle of Newbury was fought around it in October. Defense continued in appalling conditions for the next eighteen months. It was only when all hope of relief had finally vanished (in April 1646) that the garrison accepted honorable terms for surrender. They were permitted to march to Wallingford to join the Royalists still holding out there.
It must be said that the old walls could not have sustained a pounding on their own.. Donnington was a comparatively modest stronghold and certainly not designed to withstand powerful artillery. In preparation for the siege, Sir John Boys constructed a series of earthworks on the slopes around the castle. These, with their projecting bastions, are rare survivals of Civil War fortification.
The castle followed a quadrangular layout except that the rear bowed outwards in short, straight sections. There were round corner towers and two intermediate square towers on the longer sides. Owing to the siege or subsequent slighting only the footings of the curtain and its towers remain, but the handsome gatehouse has come down to us virtually intact, lacking only its roof and floors. The outer angles are clasped by boldly projecting, cylindrical towers which rise considerably higher than the main gatehouse.