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Dartmouth Castle - Dartmouth, Devon (EH) Although very different in appearance, Dartmouth and Bodiam castle (in East Sussex) are contemporary and were both built for defence, but privately (i.e.. not royally) funded. In the fourteenth century, Richard II cleverly strengthened the south of England without paying for it all himself. Here at Dartmouth, with its long naval tradition stretching back to the mustered fleets for the Crusades, the merchants of late fourteenth century Dartmouth felt vulnerable to attack, and so the castle was built with artillery in mind, one of the first to have been so. More properly a fort, it juts out into the Dart estuary guarding the town from the French during the Middle Ages, the Napoleonic Wars and was again brought into service during both World Wars. Like Tintagel in Cornwall, it clings to the cliff and is protected by it, concentrating its defence out towards the water. |
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Site last updated
06 April 2008 |