King Charles' Castle, Tresco
King Charles’ Castle was built on the west side of Tresco in 1548-50. It consists of a polygonal gun room with five gun embrasures, though one was abandoned later when a small room was created in the north-east corner. Attached to the east side of it there was a large room, the northern half of which was used as a kitchen for the soldiers manning the castle. At the north and south ends of this room are small, square bedchambers wth no fireplaces, but the northern room has a triangular, stone floor in one corner, perhaps for a small brazier. A large porch or guardroom protects the entrance to the building. There is some architectural stonework lying around the outside of the building though whether there is sufficient to recreate a missing upper storey is uncertain.
Around King Charles’ Castle there is a large earthwork, which may date from the 1620s. It is roughly square in plan with a bastion at its north-west corner and a demi-bastion at its north-east corner.
A couple of hundred metres to the south-east of King Charles’ Castle there is another 400m long earthwork across the plateau. This is very slight, no higher than about 0.3m and it should be regarded as a laying-out preparation rather than a fully-fledged defensive work. It may date from around 1550 and could be contemporary with King Charles’ Castle.
For information and a downloadable discussion of King Charles’ Castle visit http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/king-charless-castle/
For more information on Scilly’s rich military history read Defending Scilly by Mark Bowden and Allan Brodie (English Heritage 2011 £9.99)
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/defending-scilly/