Kingswear Castle

Kingswear Castle was built between 1491 - 1502, as a coastal artillery

Coastal artillery

Coastal artillery is the branch of armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications....

 tower for use with heavy cannon. It is located in Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, although that is an unofficial name, rarely used inside of the county itself and often indicating a traditional or historical context. The county shares borders with Cornwall to the west and Dorset and Somerset to...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Due to the limited range of cannon at the time, the fort at Kingswear was designed to work alongside Dartmouth Castle

Dartmouth Castle

Dartmouth Castle is one of a pair of forts, the other being Kingswear Castle, that guard the mouth of the Dart Estuary in Devon, England .A small fortalice was built in 1388 under the direction of John Hawley...

 on the opposite bank, so that between them they could provide complete cover of the narrow entrance through the Dart estuary

River Dart

The River Dart is a river in Devon, England which rises high on Dartmoor, and releases to the sea at Dartmouth. Its valley and surrounding area is a place of great natural beauty.-Watercourse:...

 into Dartmouth

Dartmouth, Devon

Dartmouth is a town in Devon in South West England. It is a tourist destination set on the banks of the estuary of the River Dart, which is a long narrow tidal ria that runs inland as far as Totnes. It lies within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty .-History:Dartmouth was of...

 Harbour. Gun technology improved and the range of the weapons increased and new gun emplacements were added to Dartmouth Castle, aiming further out towards the estuary mouth, leading to a decline in the defensive role of Kingswear

Kingswear

Kingswear is a village and civil parish in the South Hams area of the English county of Devon. The village is located on the east bank of the tidal River Dart, close to the river's mouth and opposite the small town of Dartmouth...

Castle.

Unlike Dartmouth Castle, the site of Kingswear Castle is owned by http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/ and not generally accessible to the public.

External links

• Details, map and photo