Like its counterpart, St Mawes castle across the Carrick Roads from Falmouth, Pendennis Castle was a link in Henry VIII’s coastal defence system, which ran from Hull on the east coast, right round to Milford Haven in Wales.
|Painting of Falmouth, Cornwall in the 1700s|
The term Carrick Roads (above) is a large waterway created after the Ice Age from an ancient valley which flooded as the melt waters caused the sea level to rise dramatically, creating a large natural harbour – where container ships now lay up!
|The Tudor Arms carved above a doorway|
Henry VIII changed the religion of the English to Church of England so he could get a divorce, money and more power over his country. The Pope had asked the French and Spanish, who both had strong armies and were Catholic, to invade England to perform a restoration on the country’s religion.
|Pendennis Castle Keep|
The French and Spanish two years earlier had fought in the Carrick Roads, so they knew it was unguarded, and so Henry believed this would be a target for attack and hence in the 1540s had the two Castles built.
Pendennis Castle has continued to play a role in the various attacks from land and sea, particularly during the English Civil War holding out for over five months before starvation forced surrender to the Parliamentarians – who sacked it.
|Explore the recreated Tudor Gun Room c/o English Heritage|
Crab Quay lies below the Castle and is the most suitable location for a landing, so a battery (of guns) was built here in the late 17th or early 18th centuries – first recorded on a map of 1715.
These early armaments were replaced with five 18-pounder guns, firing through embrasures in a thick retaining wall. In 1855 the battery was upgraded to 32-pounders; but these in turn by the 1880s were replaced by two 64-pounders rifled muzzle-loaders.
|St Mawes Castle in the foreground,|
Pendennis Castle across the water
In 1898 the battery was reconstructed to provide two concrete emplacements for a pair of 6-pounder quick-firing guns, which, together with a sister battery at St Mawes, would prevent fast torpedo boats evading the heavier guns on the headland and entering the Carrick Roads. The battery was briefly rearmed in 1942, but had been removed by 1943.
English Heritage have housed a large collection of George Butterworth (1905 – 1988) wartime cartoons, generously given to them by his widow, at the Castle. (The Political Cartoon gallery shows some of his cartoons).
|Falmouth Harbour, National Maritime|
Museum, Cornwall and Pendennis
The National Maritime Museum, Cornwall is adjacent to Pendennis Castle.
That is P for Pendennis Castle – a castle that’s stood the test of time and fought off many invasions; evidence of its fascinating history is on show throughout the site ... part of the ABC series Aspects of British Castles
Bob Scotney wrote about Okehampton Castle for his 'O' post
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