Brownsea Castle facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Brownsea Castle
Brownsea Island, Dorset, England
Castle seen from the sea
Brownsea Castle
Coordinates	50°41′18″N 1°57′30″W / 50.68834°N 1.95826°W / 50.68834; -1.95826
Type	Former Device Fort
Site information
Owner	National Trust
Controlled by	John Lewis Partnership
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	Brownsea Castle
Designated	13 December 1984
Reference no.	1120277
Open to the public	No
Condition	Restored after 1962
Site history
Built	1545-47

Brownsea Castle, also called Branksea Castle, is a historic building on Brownsea Island in Dorset, England. King Henry VIII built it between 1545 and 1547. Its main job was to protect Poole Harbour from French attacks.

It was a strong stone building with a special platform for cannons. Six soldiers from the nearby town protected it, using eight powerful cannons. Even after the danger passed, the castle was still used. During the English Civil War in the 1640s, soldiers who supported Parliament (called Roundheads) took control of it. But by the late 1600s, the castle was no longer used much.

In 1726, a man named William Benson turned the castle into a private home. Later owners added more parts to the castle. They also created beautiful gardens and lakes around the island. In the 1800s, more building work happened. Colonel William Waugh added new sections in a style called Jacobethan.

A big fire in 1896 badly damaged the castle inside. Major Kenneth Robert Balfour then restored it. In the early 1900s, a rich stockbroker named Charles Van Raalte lived there. He used the castle to keep his large collection of old musical instruments.

Mary Bonham-Christie bought Brownsea Castle in 1927. She let the castle fall apart, and by the time she died in 1961, it was in very bad shape. The National Trust then bought it. They leased it to the John Lewis Partnership, who spent many years fixing it up. Today, the Partnership still uses the castle as a hotel for their employees and retired staff.

History of Brownsea Castle

Why Was Brownsea Castle Built?

Brownsea Castle was built because of problems between England, France, and the Holy Roman Empire. This was during the last years of King Henry VIII's rule. Usually, local lords and towns were in charge of coastal defenses. The king did not get involved much in building forts.

France and the Empire were often fighting each other. This meant sea raids were common. But a real invasion of England seemed unlikely. There were some small forts in the south-west and along the Sussex coast. But generally, England's defenses were not very strong.

In 1533, King Henry broke away from the Pope. This was because he wanted to end his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. As a result, France and the Empire teamed up against Henry in 1538. The Pope even encouraged them to attack England.

Henry reacted in 1539 by ordering new forts. These were built along the most vulnerable parts of the coast. The immediate danger passed. But it came back in 1544. France threatened to invade across the Channel. They had help from their allies in Scotland. So, Henry ordered more defenses in 1544. He focused on the south coast.

Building the Castle (1545-1547)

The castle was built on the south-east side of Brownsea Island. It was finished between 1545 and 1547. Its purpose was to protect the entrance to the busy Poole Harbour. The island belonged to the King. It had been taken from Cerne Abbey a few years before.

The castle was a simple design. It was a one-story, square building called a blockhouse. In 1552, it was about 44 feet (13 meters) across. It could hold cannons on its roof. Inside, it had three rooms. The blockhouse was meant to be two stories tall, but this never happened.

A hexagonal (six-sided) platform for cannons surrounded the blockhouse on the sea side. A moat (a ditch filled with water) was on the other three sides. A 24-foot (7.3 meters) drawbridge on the south-west side allowed people to get in.

The King and the town of Poole paid for the building. Poole was also in charge of keeping soldiers there and maintaining it. In the early years of Queen Elizabeth I's rule, the castle usually had six men. It was armed with eight cannons.

More work was done on the cannon platform in 1548. This cost £56. In 1552, more improvements were made to the castle's defenses. This cost Poole £133. The castle needed regular repairs. In 1551, 101 piles were put in. This was probably to stop the coast from washing away. In 1561, the town asked the King for help with more repairs. They also needed new cannons.

Another request for help was made in 1571. This led to repairs two years later that cost £520. They needed 4,000 tons of stone. More work followed in 1585. This included building an extra 4-foot (1.2 meters) high wall around the castle.

In 1576, Queen Elizabeth I gave Brownsea and Corfe castles to Sir Christopher Hatton for his lifetime. He became the Admiral of Purbeck. Hatton had arguments with the town of Poole. He claimed he could search ships going into Poole Harbour. He also wanted money from the local ferry service. He lost his legal case about the ferry rights in 1581.

In 1589, a ship called the Bountiful Gift refused to stop for inspection. It said it had a valid pass to leave. Brownsea Castle fired on the ship, killing two crew members. The castle's captain, Walter Partridge, was found guilty of manslaughter. But he was later pardoned. The rest of the island, but not the castle, was rented out to different landowners.

From Fort to Home (17th - 18th Centuries)

The castle had soldiers for most of the 1600s. During the English Civil War in the 1640s, the castle was held by Parliament. It was controlled by the Governor of Poole. The castle was made stronger again. In 1644, Parliament ordered four cannons and four boxes of muskets to be sent to the castle. By 1646, it had 20 soldiers.

During the time when England had no king, a rich merchant named Sir Robert Clayton bought the island. Clayton probably did not live in the castle. It started to fall apart. By the end of the century, the town of Poole refused to keep soldiers in the decaying fort.

The architect William Benson bought the island in 1726 for £300. Benson began turning the castle into a private home. The authorities in Poole complained about this. The town took the matter to the Attorney General. They argued that Benson had not bought the castle itself, only the island. They said the castle was a national fort, built by Henry VIII and owned by Poole.

Benson argued that the building was not a castle at first. He said it was just a lodging house. He claimed Henry had not built it. So, the Crown had no special rights over it. He said the previous owners of the island had simply allowed the town and government to put cannons there. The issue was eventually dropped. Benson then removed the outside defenses. He created a Great Hall and planted trees and rare plants around the island.

The castle was sold to a Mr. Chamberlayne. Then it went to Sir Gerard Sturt in 1762. And then to Gerard's cousin, Sir Humphrey Sturt, in 1765. Humphrey made the castle bigger around its 16th-century core. He made it a Palladian-style, four-story tower with battlements (parts of a wall with gaps for defense). New sections stretched out on three sides. He also built a walled courtyard with hot houses next to the castle. He changed the island's landscape, adding two lakes and many fir trees. This cost £50,000. His son, Charles Sturt, made the castle his main home. But he often lived elsewhere because he was involved in the Napoleonic Wars.

Changes in the 19th Century

Charles Sturt's son, also named Charles, inherited the property. He sold it to Sir Charles Chad in 1817. Chad spent a lot of money on the castle. Prince George visited in 1818. He arrived to a salute from the castle's guns.

A diplomat named Sir Augustus Foster bought the castle in 1840 when he retired. He died at the castle in 1848. He had been unwell after a "disease of the heart and lungs."

A retired Indian Army officer, Colonel William Waugh, bought the island in 1852. He hoped to make money from a pottery factory there. He restored parts of the castle. He also built new sections in a Jacobethan style around the south and east sides. Waugh also built the gatehouse and clocktower at the entrance to the courtyard. These had crenelated (notched) tops. He also built the Jacobethan-style family pier by the sea below the castle. The pottery business failed. Waugh fled to Spain in 1857 to escape his debts.

After a Mr. Faulkner owned it for a while, the property was sold again in 1873. The politician and lawyer George Cavendish-Bentinck bought it for £30,000. He filled the castle with a huge collection of Italian Renaissance sculpture. Cavendish-Bentinck closed the pottery works. He gave the island as a family home to his son, William. He paid for the castle to be greatly renovated. William and his wife Ruth moved into it in 1888. Cavendish-Bentinck died in 1891 with many debts. This forced William to sell the castle and island to Major Kenneth Robert Balfour.

After new electric lighting was put in, the castle caught fire on January 26, 1896. The inside was completely burned out. Balfour rebuilt the property with the help of architect Philip Brown. He made the castle's design simpler. Balfour's wife, Margaret Anne, became ill. He decided to sell the island in 1901 to the stockbroker Charles van Raalte.

The 20th Century and Today

In 1901, the stockbroker Charles van Raalte bought the island. He lived a very fancy life at the castle, which now had 38 bedrooms. The van Raaltes held big parties during the summer. They had servants and a part-time band. They gathered a rare collection of about 250 old musical instruments from Europe, Asia, and Africa at the castle.

Charles van Raalte died in 1908. But his wife Florence stayed until 1925. When Florence died in 1927, the castle was sold to Sir Arthur Wheeler. He quickly decided to sell off the remaining contents. He planned to tear down the property. The sale included some of Van Raalte's instrument collection, paintings, and a library of 5,000 books. It brought in £22,300.

The castle was not torn down as planned. Instead, Mary Bonham-Christie bought it for £125,000 later that year. She chose to live in a nearby house instead of the castle itself. She let the island return to nature and the castle fall into disrepair.

In 1932, the Silver Jubilee of the first Scout Camp was held. Mrs. Bonham Christie allowed celebrations on the island. Five hundred Scouts camped on the original site. Two years later, in 1934, a bush-fire started. It burned for three days and caused huge damage.

By the time Bonham-Christie died in 1961, part of the castle's roof had fallen in. A tree was even growing up through the middle of the building. Bonham-Christie's grandson faced large taxes after her death. He suggested building 400 luxury houses on the island. But this caused such a public outcry that the idea was refused.

The government agreed to accept the island instead of the taxes. However, the government only deals with money. So, they offered the island to the National Trust for £100,000. The National Trust could only raise £25,000. The remaining £75,000 was raised equally by the Boy Scout and Girl Guide Movements. The forerunner of the Dorset WildLife Trust took over managing the north half of the island. And the John Lewis Partnership bought a 99-year lease for the Castle and gardens. They use it as a hotel for their employees. They slowly restored the buildings in stages. They are still the current tenants.

The National Trust took ownership of the castle and island in 1962. They thought the castle had "little antiquity or architectural interest." Some of the 19th-century inside features still exist. These include wood panelling and fancy ceilings. There are also some carved stone fireplaces from Venice. The castle also has four cannons. These probably date from the 1600s or early 1700s. The castle is protected under UK law as a Grade II listed building.

Images for kids

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  Plan of the 16th-century blockhouse

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  1818 view of the castle, showing the Palladian development of the original blockhouse by Sir Humphrey Sturt

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  The gatehouse and clocktower, built in 1852

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  The Family Pier, also dating from 1852