On the Isle of Portland, in Dorset, this squat fort in light stone is one of the best-preserved of the great belt of coastal defence willed by Henry VIII. Its fan shape, turned towards the sea, illustrates to perfection the military revolution of the Renaissance: architecture rethought for the cannon.
A fort of the Device programme
After his break with Rome (1533), Henry VIII believed himself threatened by a joint Catholic invasion by France and the Empire. He then launched, from 1539, the building of a chain of coastal forts — the 'Device Forts'. Portland, built from 1539 to 1541 for nearly £5,000, protected the strategic anchorage of Portland Roads. Its design is purely functional: a fan-shaped keep (a central tower flanked by two wings) presenting to the sea a gun room with embrasures, able to sweep the maritime approaches. It is one of the best-preserved examples of this new military architecture, low and compact, made to take and return fire.
A garrison at the water's edge
The fort was given a small garrison — thirteen men under Captain John Leweston in 1545 — and an artillery recorded at eleven pieces in 1547-48. Life there was that of a modest but watchful place of war, scanning the horizon against the continental threat. Portland remained in service well beyond our period. To see: the fan-shaped keep (central tower + two wings), the octagonal great hall on the ground floor (sixteenth-century chimney), the gun room with embrasures, the restored kitchen and the captain's house.
Did you know?
The fan shape of Portland is nothing aesthetic: the central tower held the lodgings and the command, while the two arc-shaped wings presented to the sea a long battery of guns, able to cover the whole arc of the anchorage. Where the medieval castle rose towards the sky, Henry VIII's fort spread at the water's edge — to offer as little purchase as possible to enemy cannonballs.
Notes
Portland Castle lies on the Isle of Portland, Dorset; a fort run by English Heritage, open to visits. Seasonal hours to check.
Quiz
- Why did Henry VIII build Portland?
- Against the risk of a Franco-Imperial invasion after the break with Rome
- To watch Wales
- As a summer palace
- What shape does the fort have?
- Fan-shaped (central tower + two wings)
- Star-shaped
- Triangular
- What did it protect?
- The anchorage of Portland Roads
- The city of London
- The Scottish border