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Portchester Castle

(vero;2022-Jan-09)

Portchester Castle is located on the northern side of Portsmouth harbour, a strategic position for the defence of the Solent. It has been built on the site of a Roman fort dating back to the 3rd century AD, whose defensive walls have survived until today. After the Norman Conquest, those walls became the outer defences of a Tower Keep Castle which is still standing. Medieval kings used Portchester as a base to prepare campaigns against France: in 1346 Edward III (r.1327-77) stayed there before crossing the Channel and winning the battle of Crécy, same for Henry V (r.1413-1422) who launched his invasion of France in 1415 from Portchester and ended up winning the even more famous battle of Agincourt.

But the castle was not only a military garrison: after major works in the 1320s, the buildings on the west of the inner bailey became a self-contained palace which King Richard II (r.1377-99) improved and enlarged in 1396-99, creating a grand series of royal apartments around its south and west sides. With time, Portchester became overshadowed by the economic and military development of Portsmouth although it retained a significant role in the defence of the southern coast under the Tudors. The castle remained property of the Crown until 1632 when Charles I (r.1625-49) sold the whole to a local landowner, Sir William Uvedale. Uvedale rented the place to the Army who used it as a prison for prisoners of war during the many conflicts of the time, its occupancy culminating during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars of 1793-1815 (the last prisoners left in May 1814). When the Army abandoned the castle in 1819, it returned to descendants of the Uvedale family who turned the castle into a tourist attraction and in 1926 finally placed it in the guardianship of the Ministry of Works. The Ministry cleared vegetation, repaired the walls and excavated the castle's moat in the 1920-30s. Its care was transferred to English Heritage in 1984.

Outside the Roman walls: view of Ashton's tower and the Norman keep in the inner bailey.

View of the inner bailey and the keep from inside the Roman walls. The lower tower on the right is Ashton's tower, the entrance to the inner bailey is on the left.

St Mary's parish church in the outer bailey.

View of Ashton's tower and the east range of the inner bailey.

Detail of the windows of Ashton's tower.

During the Napoleonic wars, prisoners had converted one of the basement rooms into a theatre and painted a decor along the walls. This is a remain of the paintings.

Remain of a painting featuring Portchester castle in the prisoners' theatre.

The remains of the royal palace in the inner bailey seen from the roof top of the keep. It was built by Richard II in the 1390s, with the great hall in the top centre of the photo and the great chamber perpendicular to it on the right.

The castle is located right on the northern shore of Portsmouth harbour. View on Ashton's tower and the east range of the inner bailey with St Mary's church in a corner of the outer bailey.

View of the keep from inside the inner bailey. The wall with the windows on the left is what remains of the great chamber.

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