Camber Castle sits just outside Rye, Sussex, and was built during the reign of King Henry VIII to as part a coastal defence network of 30 separate defences, including 10 castles, stretching along the South Coast¹. Camber, protecting the then vital port of Rye and town of Winchelsea, joining with castles at Deal, Walmer and Yarmouth but all built to protect areas of strategic importance from the threat of invasion following England’s separation from Rome.  First building work was the construction of a circular tower on one of the shingle spits that formed the anchorage of Rye at the time. This tower, constructed by Sir Edward Guildeford, was erected between 1512 an 1514 and saw expansion between 1539 and 1544 into an elaborate artillery fort². Upon its completion it was second only in size  Dover Castle, had cost £16,000³ to build and housed a battalion of 43 men, armed with canon, muskets and a variety of hand arms including Iron spears and swords in use in the 16th and 17th centuries. 

Construction and Design

The castle was constructed from local sandstone and that taken from the Franciscans monastery at Winchelsea which was dissolved in 1538⁴ with the design being heavily influenced by continental castle design of the times but evolved during three distinct building periods. Initially, the original circular tower became part of an inner keep which was surrounded by an octagonal wall with gun ports on alternate corners. Later, four of the corners were expanded with circular towers or bastions that projected outwards from the wall to provide larger firing points – the wall was expanded and the immense rectangular gatehouse then added where previously a small semi-circular bastion stood. The final, overall, design was, like all forts of the period, highly symmetrical in design but also low in profile and surrounded by earthworks – to provide resistance to canon fire⁵.         

Silting of Rye harbour, and the resulting loss of importance of the town, resulted in the castle and garrison based within it being decommissioned 1637. Ironically, this short lifespan ensured that Camber castle retained its original design whereas other castles of the time were upgraded and much of their initial construction lost.   

References:

1: English Castles: A Guide by Counties,  By Adrian Pettifer

2: English Heritage Camber Castle - http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/camber_castle.pdf

3: http://www.ecastles.co.uk/philipdavis/English%20sites/1083.html

4: http://www.winchelsea.net

5: The Castles of Henry VIII,  By Peter Harrington.

Last update: 19-07-2008 01:40