Hurst Castle and lighthouse

Heritage listing

Details The monument includes Hurst Castle, a mid-16th century stone built artillery castle, much altered in the early to mid-19th century, to which two casemated wings were added in the 1860s. The castle also supports defensive structures dating to the periods of both World Wars and lighthouses dating to 1865 and 1911. The castle lies at the tip of Hurst Spit, a long shingle bank which curves out from the Hampshire coast at Milford on Sea. From this point, only 1200m from the shore of the Isle of Wight, it guards the western entrance to the Solent and thence to Southampton and Portsmouth. The monument also includes the 19th century lighthouse and associated gas house to the north of the castle, the remains of late 19th century gun batteries to its east and west, the dock and site of the storehouse on its northern landward side, and the remains of the associated 1880s narrow gauge railway. The Tudor castle, built between 1541 and 1544, centres on a great 12 sided tower or keep. This is surrounded by a narrow courtyard beyond which lies the outer curtain wall with its three substantial semicircular bastions. Both keep and bastions were altered successively during the 19th century. Outside the castle is a moat which survived intact until the alterations carried out in the 1850s. The moat is largely infilled although part of its counterscarp, reconstructed in the 1850s, survives on the south side of the castle. Within the moat on the northern side of the castle is a caponier, the sole surviving example of three built in 1852. Added on to the east and west sides of the Tudor castle are two huge casemated wing batteries constructed in the 1860s and designed to house a total of 30 heavy guns. Each casemate is built of brick with massive granite faced elevations to the sea and

From the Historic England List Entry under OGL v3.