Camber

Camber Castle

Also known as Winchelsea Castle

(Most of the information here is taken from the leaflet provided)

The view above is similar to what you see in the distance from the A259.

We've driven past it many times and I've often wondered if it is possible to visit.

I found out earlier this year that it is open to the public:

From 2-5 pm (last admission 4.30pm) on:

- bank holiday weekends (March - Sept)

- every Saturday and Sunday in July, August and September

- or by guided walks on dates advertised

There is space for a few cars to park on the roadside near Brede lock on Harbour Road

It is about a mile walk across the fields, takes about 15 - 20 minutes

Entrance fee is currently £2.00 for adults (as at May 2007)

It is connected to English Heritage so I think you get free admission if you are a member

The castle lies between Rye and Winchelsea, and was originally located on a shingle spit which protected the approach to these towns. It was taken into Guardianship in 1967, and initial consolidation work was carried out between 1969 and 1975. This involved structural work, particularly to the keep, hard capping the wall tops and extensive repairs to the brickwork. A further programme of consolidation, particularly to the courtyard surfaces and re-pointing of brickwork in lime mortars, was completed in 1995. This work has enabled a limited public opening of the castle.

Inside the castle, imagine that most of the castle would have had a roof.

The rectangular holes in the walls would have held large timbers supporting the floors and the roof.

The original tower was only half the height of the later tower.

The later tower had three levels, look for the stairs.

There is a vaulted ring passage around the base of the central tower, most of it still in tact. Even I had to duck through some of the tunnels.

We were trying to work out why you would have a window behind a chimney.

Chimney's are usually associated with fireplaces.

The windows were actually gun embrasures in each of the semi-circular bastions and may each have had a cannon. The cannons created a lot of smoke when fired, so each embrasure has an elaborate chimney.

I had to find a toilet... not one that I'd want to use though. According to the plan, there were 2 more like this and a multiple garderobe too.

I was trying to pick up the detail half way up this tower.

Carved stones in the form of a Tudor Rose and a lion's head... you'll have to check it out yourself!

West Bastion / kitchen

Bread oven where a bird has made it his home

There are two bread ovens of a domed tile construction

The view back across the fields towards Rye

We walked back a more direct route across the fields with the sheep

Some history of the castle:

Between 1512 and 1514 Sir Edward Guldeford built a circular tower to defend the harbour. In 1538 a treaty between France and Spain left England more vulnerable to attack from these countries.

Henry VIII took steps to protect likely points of invasion around the south coast by ordering artillery forts to be built at strategic positions, such as Walmer and Deal. Use was made of the earlier circular tower at Camber, as it was incorporated into the central tower of the planned artillery fort.

Camber Castle is second in size only to Deal Castle, and like all Henry VIII's fortifications, it is symmetrical.

Four rectangular gun bastions, were backed by 'D' shaped towers linked to each other by an eight sided curtain wall. This wall had a defensive passage behind it.

Each tower had a vaulted way, leading to a second defensive passage built around the base of the central tower.

Work began in 1539. By its completion in 1544 the castle had cost £16,000 and by 1553 the garrison strength was 29 men.

By the end of the 16th century, the silting of the harbour and the eastward shifting of the harbour entrance, were already making the castle obsolete. In 1637 the garrison was abandoned.