Pendennis Castle ~ Falmouth, Cornwall (EH)
Pendennis and its sister castle, St Mawes, belong to a chain built by Henry VIII along the south coast of England between 1539 and 1545.
Pendennis was built on the western side of the mouth of the River Fal to protect the inland expanse of water known as the Carrick Roads.
Really more of a fort than a castle, the first part of construction was the central round tower of three storeys. In the basement was the kitchen, which had to feed the regular garrison of about a dozen, but in times of emergency, over a hundred local militia would be at Pendennis. The kitchen has a cooking hearth and ovens and must have had a well originally, although it has been covered up since. Above this is the first gun deck. Before the outer platform was built, these seven gun positions would have defended the castle and the estuary as did the seven more on the first floor gun-deck above. However, as you can see if you look out from one of the positions, you couldn't get a clear and effective shot over the outer platform, so the ground floor was probably only intended for use immediately after it was first built.
On the second floor is a display of replica guns and equipment which attempt to give a idea of what the gun-deck was like. The illustrations make it clear that in use, the noise and smoke, together with the numbers of men must have made it a far cry from the peaceful scene we see today. In the gun placements you can see sockets where a beam held the shutter closed and tackle for maneuvering the heavy guns could also be attached to the beam. On both gun decks there are ventilation shafts above the gun ports for the smoke to rise through the walls to the air above, and the ports are spaced round the tower, not one above the other for both this purpose and to give a wider area of cover.
The roof of the tower had a look-out post, complete with its own fireplace and there were further gun placements here, which ran on a separate boarded deck built on massive timbers above the lead. From the roof you can see the flat-topped promontory that Pendennis was built on, with the narrow strip of land connecting it to where Falmouth is today. Across the estuary you can clearly see St Mawes castle.
The Governor of Pendennis was housed in the entrance block to the main castle, built during the third phase of construction around 1550.The stonework is decorated with string courses, gargoyles and embattled turrets, adding a certain level of sophistication to what was a functional, defensive building. A stone bridge takes you across the dry moat, and a heavy door, protected by a portcullis leads into the guard room and Governor's Parlour. There was originally a draw-bridge, with the overhead balance arms supported from the columns outside.
Outside the castle, the open area was not originally a parade ground, but had several buildings, mostly barracks or one kind or another. In the late sixteenth century, under threat from the Spanish Armada, the defenses at Pendennis were strengthened again by the building of the angled ramparts. Guns from various periods are positioned around the Elizabethan fortress and there is a further exhibition room. The large two-storey building of red brick towards the north east was built in the early nineteenth century, when Britain was again under threat of invasion, this time from Napoleon. There is a tiny fort know as Little Dennis at the end of the headland. This is contemporary with the main castle of 1540-45 and provided additional gun power at sea level.
The strategic position of Pendennis meant that during both the First and Second World Wars, it was again garrisoned and modern guns replaced the earlier cannons.
Pendennis has had a colourful past. The first Governors of the castle, two John Killigrews, were successively in charge, and although there was no doubt as to their active defense of the castle, their privateering on the side landed them both in jail. The second John, who became Sir John, became very unpopular locally, and he even fought a duel in Truro in 1577 when he was accused of helping an important prisoner, Anthony Bourne, escape from Pendennis. He was subsequently found to have been culpable.
His son, the third John, succeeded in 1584 and it was during his captaincy that the Spanish set a fleet of sixty ships along the Cornish coast, landing four hundred men at Penzance and burning the town. Sir Walter Raleigh wanted a professional soldier in charge at Pendennis during this dangerous time, and Sir John was sent to jail, again for privateering and replaced by Sir Nicholas Parker. The fortress surrounding the castle was built at great expense during Sir Nicholas's tenure, but he still wasn't satisfied and claimed that the guns at St Mawes would be better placed at Pendennis. After the resulting argument with St Mawes' captain, Hannibal Vyvyan, the Privy Council gave the guns to Sir Nicholas.
Further action was seen at Pendennis during the Civil War, when the Royalists held the castle under John Arundell of Trerice during a five month siege. He was starved into an honourable submission and Pendennis was then garrisoned by between 400 and 500 men on the Parliamentarian side throughout the Commonwealth.