The Royal Citadel in Plymouth

Plymouth

Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

, Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, England, was built in the late 1660s to the design of Sir Bernard de Gomme

Bernard de Gomme

Sir Bernard de Gomme was a Dutch military engineer. By some he is considered the most important figure in 17th century English military engineering.-Early life:...

. It is at the eastern end of Plymouth Hoe

Plymouth Hoe

Plymouth Hoe, referred to locally as the Hoe, is a large south facing open public space in the English coastal city of Plymouth. The Hoe is adjacent to and above the low limestone cliffs that form the seafront and it commands views of Plymouth Sound, Drake's Island, and across the Hamoaze to Mount...

 overlooking Plymouth Sound

Plymouth Sound

Plymouth Sound, or locally just The Sound, is a bay at Plymouth in England.Its southwest and southeast corners are Penlee Point in Cornwall and Wembury Point on Devon, a distance of about 3 nautical miles . Its northern limit is Plymouth Hoe giving a north-south distance of nearly 3 nautical miles...

, and encompasses the site of the earlier fort that had been built in the time of Sir Francis Drake.

During the Dutch Wars of 1664-67 King Charles II

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

 decided that it was necessary to realise the importance of Plymouth as a channel port. The original plan was to build a regular self-contained fort with five bastion

Bastion

A bastion, or a bulwark, is a structure projecting outward from the main enclosure of a fortification, situated in both corners of a straight wall , facilitating active defence against assaulting troops...

s, to the west of Drake's Fort, but this was revised to take in the earlier fort, resulting in the Citadel's irregular outline. Possibly due to Plymouth's support for the Parliamentarians

Roundhead

"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...

 in the Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

 its guns could also fire on the town. De Gomme faced some criticism over his unorthodox design: for instance when Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...

 visited in 1683 he wrote that "De Gomme hath built very sillily".

Fisher's Nose Blockhouse, located on its south east corner, dates from 1490-1540 and was intended to protect the Cattewater

Cattewater

The city of Plymouth, Devon, England is bounded by Dartmoor to the north, the river Tamar to the west. The open expanse of water called Plymouth Sound to the south and the river Plym to the east....

. On the opposite bank to Fisher's Nose is the Queen Anne's Battery, dating from 1667.

Work began in March 1665, but it was not until 18 July 1666 that the foundation stone was laid by John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath

John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath

John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath PC was an English royalist statesman, whose highest position was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland....

. This stone, inscribed 'Jo Earle of Bathe 1666', is still in the wall facing the Hoe. The Citadel is built of local limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

, while the English Baroque

English Baroque

English Baroque is a term sometimes used to refer to the developments in English architecture that were parallel to the evolution of Baroque architecture in continental Europe between the Great Fire of London and the Treaty of Utrecht ....

 gateway, designed by Sir Thomas Fitz, is of Portland stone

Portland stone

Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building stone throughout the British Isles, notably in major...

. The gateway was originally approached by a drawbridge over a dry moat, but these were removed with all the other outwork

Outwork

An outwork is a minor defense, fortification, built or established outside the principal fortification limits, detached or semidetached. Outworks were developed in the 16th century, such as ravelins, lunettes , caponiers to shield bastions and fortification curtains from direct battery...

s in the 1880s.

The Royal Citadel was the most important English

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, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 defence for over 100 years, with 70ft high walls, and was regularly strengthened over the years, particularly during the 1750s when it was equipped with 113 guns.

The Royal Citadel is still occupied by the military, being the base of 29 Commando Regiment

29th Commando Regiment Royal Artillery

29 Commando Regiment is the Commando-trained unit of the British Army's Royal Artillery. The regiment is under the operational control of 3 Commando Brigade providing artillery support and gunnery observation.- History :...

 of the Royal Artillery

Royal Artillery

The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...

. This specialist British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 unit provides artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

 support to 3 Commando Brigade

3 Commando Brigade

3 Commando Brigade is a commando formation of the British Armed Forces and the main manoeuvre formation of the Royal Marines. Its personnel are predominantly Royal Marines, supported by units of Royal Engineers, Royal Artillery, The Rifles, and the Fleet Air Arm, together with other Commando...

 of the Royal Marines

Royal Marines

The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...

. Guided tours are sometimes available.

Garrison church

The Royal Chapel of St Katherine-upon-the-Hoe was originally licensed for services in 1371. During the period 1666-1671, the original church was demolished and the present nave, chancel and sanctuary were rebuilt on the same site. The galleries and transept

Transept

For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...

s were added in 1845 and give a cross-like structure to the building. King George V

George V of the United Kingdom

George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....

re-granted the title Royal Chapel in 1927 during a visit to the Royal Citadel.