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View of the Exterior of Pendennis Castle

English Heritage

English Heritage
United Kingdom

Pendennis Castle dominates a rocky headland high above Falmouth in Cornwall. It is one of England’s finest surviving coastal fortresses, one of a handful of distinctive circular artillery forts built during a period of national emergency in the 1540s.

Together with the fortress at St Mawes, Pendennis guarded the anchorage of Carrick Roads and the port towns below for over 400 years. The castle began as a gun fort in the mid-16th century. Bastioned defences were added in the 1590s following the threat of Spanish invasion. In 1646 an 800-strong Royalist force withstood a lengthy siege during the English Civil War, finally surrendering to Parliament after holding out for five months. In the First and Second World Wars, the castle was the headquarters of the Falmouth defences. Its concealed Battery Observation Post controlled Half Moon Battery’s guns, which could fire up to 14 miles out to sea.

Details

  • Title: View of the Exterior of Pendennis Castle
  • Location: Pendennis Castle
  • Type: Site
  • Original Source: PENDENNIS CASTLE
  • Rights: English Heritage
  • Photographer: Roger Harris

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