Yarmouth Castle in about 1565

3D Model

This digital reconstruction model shows Yarmouth Castle on the Isle of Wight as it may have looked in about 1565.

Begun in 1546–7, the final years of Henry VIII’s reign, Yarmouth was the last fortification of the national programme of coastal defence that Henry had begun in 1539. It was designed – together with Hurst Castle on the mainland – to guard the western entrance to the Solent, and to prevent the capture of the Isle of Wight as a prelude to larger assaults on the south coast of England. Radical alterations were made to the castle’s design in 1559–65, the early years of Elizabeth I’s reign.

Read more about the history of Yarmouth Castle.