Listed Building record MWX822 - Brownsea Castle, Studland

Brownsea Castle, now a country house, was rebuilt on the site of a small Henrician coastal artillery fort or blockhouse, built between 1545-47 by Henry VIII as part of his network of coastal defences to protect against French and Spanish invasion. The fort was refortified during the Civil War by the Parliamentarians and was then bought and converted into a country house in 1726. In the mid-19th century the house was remodelled and a new Tudor style facade, gatehouse and pier built. This was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1897. Any remains of the original castle are now in the basement of the house, though sections of the later house reflect its original structure.Although nothing remains on the surface of the original Henrician blockhouse, its physical aspect can be interpreted from a 1597 map of Poole Harbour. It consisted of a square single-storey stone building surrounded on three sides by a moat with a hexagonal gun platform on the seaward side which was enclosed by a low wall.The original country house was built in 1727 and incorporated the remains of the blockhouse into its structure. The building was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1897 by the architect Philip Brown of Southampton. The exterior of the house is mostly in the Victorian Tudor style with an irregular plan and profile. It is dominated by a tower which was built off the original blockhouse. The main building is part two-storeys and part three-storeys and has a tower which rises a further two storeys. Facing the sea is a two-storey building dating to circa 1850 in front of the tower. The walls are part coursed with squared rough ashlar stone, and part brick with stone dressings. The roofs have battlemented parapets.

Brownsea or Branksea Castle is now in general aspect a building of the later 19th century but it contains, more or less concealed in the basement, the greater part of Henry VIIIs coastal fort of 1547-8 with 18th and early 19th century extensions which were added after its conversion into a residence, circa 1718. The original 16th century fort is shown in a detailed view and plan inset on a map of Poole Harbour dated 1597 (see Authority 4) and evidently consisted of a square single-storey stone building surrounded on three sides by a moat with a hexagonal gun platform on the fourth, seaward side, enclosed by a low wall. The entrance was in the south west side approached across the moat over a drawbridge. The castle was severely damaged by fire in 1892 and was largely refaced and extended in 1897. Plan Gd. 2. Now the property of the National Trust. (2-4)

Brownsea Castle was built between 1545 and 1547 as part of a general castle building programme along the Dorset coast. Originally intended as a two-storied structure, it is clear that as late as 1572, the castle was incomplete as the second storey had not been built. In 1584, £200 was spent on raising the walls a further four feet, high enough to be capped by a parapet. (6)

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries Brownsea Island passed from Cerne Abbey to Henry VIII and he constructed one of a number of blockhouses to defend the south coast of England against invasion from Europe. Documents of the time indicate that the townspeople of Poole were ordered to maintain a permanent garrison at the fort. By 1576 the fort had fallen into ruin, however, during the English Civil War, 1642-51, Brownsea Castle was strongly refortified by the Parliamentarians. In 1660 it was owned by Robert Clayton and then in 1726 it was bought for £300 by William Benson. He dismantled the old fortifications and rebuilt his own country estate style castle. In the mid-19th century the castle was remodelled and a new Tudor style facade, gatehouse with clocktower, and a pier with castellated watchtowers was built.

After the fire in 1896 which gutted the house the castle was rebuilt and during the Edwardian period it was owned by the van Raalte family as their country retreat. The castle and island were very prosperous and one famous visitor was Guglielmo Marconi, who carried out his experiments with wireless telegraphy.

In 1962-3 the Island was bought by the National Trust and is run as one of their properties. <8>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

Branksea Castle on site of (NAT) Castle (NR)

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 279-81 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(3) BROWNSEA CASTLE (Plates 158–60), also known by the old name of Branksea Castle, stands at the E. end of Brownsea Island (030876). The original castle formed part of Henry VIII's system of coastal defences, its role being to cover the entrance to Poole Harbour. It was built and maintained by the town of Poole and the payment in April 1547 of 33s. 4d. for lead for the castle (Poole Town Accounts 1546/7, 49 (4)) supports the statement in a document of 1573 (Great Book of Poole, f. 54) that the castle was finished in 1547; but work evidently continued into 1548 when £56 7s. was paid for finishing the platform etc. (ibid., f. 54). In 1551 a hundred and one piles were set (Town Accounts 1551, 51 (6)) which suggests some sea encroachment. Following a complaint in 1571 (Old Record Book (E) 1564–72, f. 10) that the castle was ruinous, further works were put in hand, £520 being paid out in 1573 in addition to the provision of 4,000 tons of rough stone and chalk (Town Accounts, 1573). In 1585 repairs included work on the stone fabric, loop-holes and windows and leadwork, strengthening the gun platforms and the completion of a four-foot wall round the castle (P.R.O. Exchequer Q.R. Accounts, E101/462/7). From this account and from the detailed view and plan (Plate 158) inset on a map of Poole Harbour of 1597 in the Hatfield Collection (also B.M. maps 186 h 2(32)) it is evident that the castle originally consisted of a square single-storey stone building surrounded on three sides by a moat and with a hexagonal gun platform on the fourth, seaward, side enclosed by a low wall. The entrance was in the S.W. side approached across the moat over a drawbridge 24 ft. long. In the view three guns are shown on the roof of the main structure, but the stone-paved platform is empty of guns and the wall to it partly broken down. On plan the main structure is shown divided into three rooms.
In 1576 the castle was granted to Sir Christopher Hatton (Great Book of Poole, f. 128). It was garrisoned during the 17th century and additional guns were ordered by the House of Commons in 1645/6. In the early 18th century the island was bought by William Benson, who was M.P. for Shaftesbury and in 1718 succeeded Sir Christopher Wren as Surveyor of Works, subsequently becoming Auditor of the Imprests. He began the conversion of the castle into a residence, adding a Great Hall.
In 1765 Humphrey Sturt acquired Brownsea from his cousin, Sir Gerard Napier of More Crichel, and built up the castle to a four-storey tower with lower wings on three sides; thus it is shown in engravings in Hutchins (I, 646–7) as a simple building with embattled parapets and windows mostly of either Palladian or arched form (Plate 160). The engravings also show a courtyard enclosed by a wall with corner pavilions on the site of the present walled garden N.E. of the castle.
In the first quarter of the 19th century the building was enlarged to the N.W.; it was further extended to the N.E. in the second quarter of the century. Colonel William Waugh, who bought the island in 1852, added a new S.E. front range in the Tudor style and refitted the interior. He also built the Family Pier and Watch Towers, the Gatehouse, Stables and other buildings on the island. His hope of finding china-clay and working it came to nothing and Brownsea was offered for sale by auction in 1857; copies of a map and inventories of the buildings prepared for the sale are preserved in Poole Public Library. After some delay it was sold in 1870 to the Hon. Augustus Cavendish Bentinck who brought to the castle a collection of Italian stone carvings. It changed hands again in 1892 and shortly after was severely damaged by fire. Rebuilding in 1897 included most of the S.W. and N.E. side elevations and much of the interior. The castle now belongs to the National Trust.
Brownsea Castle is now in general aspect a building of the later 19th century, but it contains more or less concealed the greater part of the Henry VIII coastal fort of 1547–8.
In the basement of the castle, rising the full height of the storey and forming the base of the lofty central block, the walls of the original mid 16th-century Fort remain. They are stone-built and though now mostly faced with modern plaster are identifiable by a pronounced batter. Measured at the highest level possible they form a rectangle 43 ft. by 44 ft. externally; the interior is not fully accessible. In the S.W. wall are clear indications of the original entrance, though now completely blocked. The S.E. retaining wall of the terrace consists largely of the original wall which enclosed the projecting gun platform.
The N.W. front shows a symmetrical composition in three storeys with windows of Palladian type but with pointed arches and with plain stone architraves, arranged between round turrets pierced by windows of single pointed lights. The composition is cut short at the N.E. end by the slightly later addition which has itself been drastically altered but finishes with a larger round turret at the N. corner.
The brick Gatehouse, 30 yds. N.E. of the castle, built c. 1852, has rusticated quoins and an embattled parapet and is surmounted by a clock turret; it is joined to the N. turret of the castle by a range of low buildings also of c. 1852 but incorporating some earlier walling. The Family Pier (Plate 160), E. of the castle, is a picturesque brick construction of c. 1852 consisting of a covered gallery and an open terrace carried on brick arches leading to a landing stage flanked by two octagonal stucco-faced watch towers in the Tudor style. In the gallery are numerous stone carvings, probably all Venetian, including fifteen with shields-of-arms, two dated 1601 and 1619 respectively, three with the Lion of St. Mark, three basins and a door-head, 16th and 17th-century.
The Houses, Shop and Workshop, N.E. of the castle, are of the 18th and mid 19th centuries. All are of brick with the principal elevations stuccoed; the largest house has embattled corner turrets. Reset in the walls are Italian stone carvings of shields-of-arms, and in a boundary wall by the quay is a carving of St. Christopher in high relief.
The Enclosure, 165 yds. W. of the castle, is of the 18th century. Two brick walls remain, one now forming the W. side of the dairy yard and the other incorporated into a later building. They have a moulded brick plinth and serrated cornice and heavy rustication of the quoins and the piers flanking a gateway. South Shore Lodge (019875) is a small L-shaped house of late 18th-century origin, much altered. Maryland (011882) comprises four blocks, each of four dwellings, erected for clay-workers by Col. Waugh in c. 1852. The Villa (025881) was incomplete in 1857.
In castle grounds, Miscellanea—Cannon: on terrace, 2 ft. 10 ins. long and 2¼ ins. bore; in garden, three, 5 ft. long and 3¼ ins. bore; the latter with foundry mark of a rose and crown and, on the trunnions, the founder's initials RF; 17th or early 18th-century. Statue (Plate 62), in grounds, of stone, of man in cuirassier armour and cloak, with laurel wreath on head, baton (broken) in left hand, helmet at feet, late 17th or early 18th-century (removed since Commission survey).
Monuments (4–25) unless otherwise described are small houses and cottages of the 18th century, of one storey and attics or two storeys, and with rubble walls and thatched roofs. The single cottages (8, 11, 12, 19, 23) each comprise, on plan, one main room with a fireplace against the gable end wall and one or two small unheated rooms at the opposite end. The cottages built in ranges of two or three together (6, 9, 10, 14) are similar to the foregoing on plan.’

<3> DOE (HRR), 1952, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: Wareham and Purbeck Rural District 1952, p37 (Scheduling record). SWX3230.

<4> National Trust, 1968, Antiquities of Brownsea Island, Plans, Illusts (Monograph). SWX3335.

<5> DOE (HRR), 1984, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: District of Purbeck amendment 1984, p24 (Scheduling record). SWX3364.

<6> Colvin, H M, 1982, History of the Kings Works Volume 4: 1485-1660 (Part 2), 468-70 (Monograph). SWX3337.

<7> Papworth, M, 1992, Brownsea Island, Dorset. Wessex region, 112, 082 (Unpublished document). SWX1390.

<8> The National Trust, The National Trust. 2009. History of Brownsea Island, <http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-brownseaisland/w-brownseaisland-history2.htm#henry8>, Accessed 31-MAR-2009 (Digital archive). SDO20140.

<9> National Record of the Historic Environment, 457504 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 15 2023 11:52AM