Pendennis Castle, Cornwall’s greatest fortress, was built by Henry VIII between 1540 and 1545. Although called a castle, it was an artillery fort to guard the entrance of the mouth of the river Fal. The aim was to defend England against the maritime supremacy of Spain and the threat of invasion to re-establish Papal authority after Henry VIII had set himself up as supreme head of the Church of England.

The castle consists of a central tower with four floors. In the late 1540s the upper gun deck was armed with five bronze guns with a range of about a mile. A series of modernisations kept Pendennis Castle as part of Britain’s coastal defences until 1956. Today the fortress offers an insight into Britain’s military history of the last 450 years.