Southsea Castle
Southsea Castle is a sixteenth-century coastal fortification in Portsmouth, built by Henry VIII in 1544 as part of his programme of coastal defence against French and Spanish invasion and serving continuously as a military fortification until the twentieth century. The castle is built on the classic low artillery fort plan developed in Henry's reign, with a central tower surrounded by a low bastioned enclosure designed to mount heavy cannon at sea level. It was from the beach near Southsea Castle that Henry VIII watched his flagship Mary Rose sink in the Solway Firth in 1545. The castle is now a museum interpreting the long military history of the site and the broader coastal defence heritage of Portsmouth Harbour. The adjacent seafront at Southsea provides extensive beach, promenade and leisure facilities, and the nearby Royal Navy's National Museum and the Mary Rose Museum make Portsmouth one of the finest maritime heritage destinations in the world.