Henry VIII and Coast Defence

In choosing 1547 — the death of Henry VIII — as the terminal date in the history of the English castle, I have been often questioned, and even (somewhat absurdly) denounced. ¹ There are good reasons for this choice of date; in any catalogue, such as Castellarium Anglicanum, it is far better to include too many examples than too few. Further, Henry VIII’s defences of the south and south-east coast represent a programme of fortification which can only be compared with Edward I’s North Welsh castles. Later than 1547, the Tudor programme of defences petered out among forts of acute bastioned or tenaille trace both generally weak and entirely un-medieval.