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NEARBY ATTRACTION:
Pendennis Castle |
| Falmouth
Cornwall England Tourist Attractions and tourist information. |
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A Cornish fortress, ready for military action since the sixteenth century. Pendennis and its sister, St Mawes Castle, face each other across the mouth of the River Fal. Constructed circa 1540, they are the Cornish end of a chain of castles built by Henry VIII along the south coast. Few of the castles have seen active service, but Pendennis was continually adapted over the following 400 years to meet new enemies, from the French and Spanish in the sixteenth century, through to the Second World War. The land on which the castle stands was originally owned by the Killigrew family, governors of Pendennis. The lodgings fronting the keep were built circa 1550, to provide more comfortable accommodation. In the later years of Elizabeth I’s reign, a new type of defensive wall was added round the original fort. Strengthened again prior to the Civil War, Pendennis was host to the future Charles II in 1646. He sailed from here to the Isles of Scilly. Pendennis then withstood five months of siege before becoming the penultimate Royalist garrison to surrender on the mainland. It was rearmed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, seeing action during the Second World War. The Noonday Gun: every day at noon during July and August, one of the castle’s guns is fired to mark midday. The excellent facilities include the Guardhouse, which has been returned to its First World War appearance. |
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