The
Device Forts, also known as
Henrician Castles, are a series of
artillery fortifications built to defend the southern coast of England by
Henry VIII. After the King's divorce of
Catherine of Aragon England was left politically isolated, and the resulting hostile relationship with France and Spain in 1538 aroused fears of invasion. This threat stimulated the beginning of the first phase of the largest defence programme since
Saxon times. This first phase was known as the 1539 device programme which was followed after renewed threats from the French by a second programme, the 1544 device programme. Henry’s coastal defences ranged from earthen bulwarks to small blockhouses and artillery towers to state-of-the-art
Italianate-style fortifications. Henry took a personal interest in the
military engineering techniques of the time, and approved and amended the designs himself. Although they were built to defend England during Henry’s reign, many of them were used in the
English Civil War and were refortified at various times during the
Napoleonic wars,
First and
Second World Wars.