During the mid-1500s, England was under threat of attack by both French and Spanish forces. Concerned that enemy forces would make landfall in one of the many protected harbors that dot the south coast, Henry VIII commissioned a huge building program to erect a series of fortifications, collectively called Device Forts.
Madrone already visited castles at Pendennis and St Mawes, and blockhouse fortifications at Fowey and Polruan. Next on the passage east is Hurst Castle.
Located on a sand spit at the far west end of the Solent, the narrow waterway separating the Isle of Wight from the rest of England, construction of Hurst Castle started in 1541. By the mid-1540s, the castle was complete and outfitted with 26 cannon.
The military utility of many of the Device Forts waxed and waned over the years, and by the early 1700s the castle’s sand spit location was primarily used by smugglers to land tax-free goods. But by the end of the century, Hurst began to be rearmed in the face of growing French threats.
The castle continued to play a defense role in both the First and Second World Wars, and today Hurst is a somewhat strange amalgam of an old castle, complete with a keep and a moat, and more modern reinforced concrete barracks and gunhouses.
The sand spit doesn’t provide much resistance to the strong tidal currents that rush in and out of the Solent, and part of the castle is collapsing into the sea. But the spit does provide a good lee behind which boats can take shelter, safely out of the current and chop. This is where Madrone dropped anchor, probably in the exact same spot as some of her distant cousins from 600 years ago.
