Whilst the castle remained garrisoned, it was used as a military hospital for injured Service personnel returning from fighting on the continent. The Napoleonic Wars ended in and thereafter a long period of peace followed. This prompted significant concern in England that there would be a resumption of the Anglo-French wars and accordingly coastal defence arrangements were again scrutinised.
The western passage into the Solent was the recipient of new fortifications at Fort Victoria and Fort Albert - both of which were on the Isle of Wight opposite Hurst Castle. The Tudor castle was also substantially upgraded including modifications to take pounder guns, enhanced magazine facilities and a deepened moat reinforced by a counterscarp wall and gallery.
Significantly, earthwork wing batteries were added both sides of the former castle and equipped with 8-inch guns - seventeen to the west and twelve in the east battery. The caponier was add in as part of the first phase of modifications to the castle. However, in the French launched the world's first seagoing Ironclad warship, ' La Gloire ' the Glory , starting an arms race with Britain.
This armoured warship instantly rendered the wooden sailing ships of the Royal Navy obsolete and prompted fears of invasion. A Royal Commission was established to review coastal defence and that body recommended a vast fort building programme around the Solent to protect the Royal Navy's dockyard at Portsmouth.
The programme included a series of fortifications to prevent overland attacks as well as sea defences. The latter included new installations protecting the Western Solent. Work on the new facilities began early in Hurst Castle was retained as part of the defensive scheme but the upgrades of the s were now deemed inadequate and the entire fortification underwent significant modifications.
Work started in February with the earlier earth and shingle wings being demolished and replaced by two granite built structures attached to the Tudor fort. Each wing was a single storey structure equipped with a variety of Rifled Muzzle Loading guns each enclosed within an iron shielded casemate enabling it to be re-armed in comparative safety following each firing. Work on the upgrades continued through to and thereafter the upgraded castle was fitted with ten Additional magazines were added to each wing to feed this formidable armament.
Despite the powerful upgrades to Hurst Castle's armament, they were slow to fire. This was acceptable against slow moving warships but the late-nineteenth century saw the development of the Fast Motor Torpedo Boat.
These fast moving vessels could simply out manoeuvre traditional coastal defence weapons and to compensate the Quick Firing gun was developed. In three 6-pounder Quick Firing guns were mounted on an open battery adjacent to the East Wing.
These defences were further augmented by three 0. Early in the twentieth century three pounder Quick Firing guns were installed on the roof of the West Wing and the Tudor castle's South Bastion. Searchlights, built in dedicated enclosures attached to the West Wing, were also installed at this time. As weapon technology advanced, particularly heavy breach-loading weapons, the casemates at Hurst Castle were too small and the open batteries on the Isle of Wight became the mainstay of the Western Solent defences.
Nevertheless Hurst Castle retained much of its armament fit through both World Wars and also received a pair of 40mm Bofors Anti-Aircraft guns in The site was decommissioned in as part of a nationwide reduction in coastal defence. Cantwell, A and Sprack, P The Needles Defences. Coad, J. G Hurst Castle. English Heritage, London. Colvin, H. It is also worth noting that the financial justification for the rebuild was justified by the defence that the spit provides to the sea-wall from Keyhaven to Lymington and hence flood protection to Lymington and the surrounding area, rather than protection of the castle.
This benefit would occur with or without the castle. As a result of the lessening of the supply of shingle, and probably aggravated by higher sea levels and increased storminess and perhaps slight changes in wind directions due to climate change, the shingle to the east of the castle has disappeared and resulted in the undermining and subsequent collapse of part of the castle.
This is clearly shown by the photos on our website. As owners of the Castle it will be up to English Heritage to determine its future, which could be to try to protect parts, move parts or simply walk away and leave it to the sea. This has of course happened to many villages in the past, including some quite nearby.
The SPS Council are actively discussing the developing situation and will, in due course, publishing further commentary. The Evolution of Hurst Spit Following the collapse of a section of Hurst Castle it is interesting to consider the long-term evolution of Hurst Spit before coming to conclusions on the future of the spit and the castle that sits at the end. Hurst Spit, — Dr. Ian West, wessexcoastgeology. Credit: Dr. Hurst Spit is a shingle bank at the easternmost point of Christchurch Bay and extends 2.
It is an important coastal defence, protecting the Western Solent from flooding and sheltering the designated area of saltmarsh to the north along the boundary with the North Solent SMP. Although originally formed by natural processes, Hurst Spit is now maintained by regular shingle recycling operations. The Spit has been declining in volume, probably since the 's when coast protection works in Christchurch Bay first began to interrupt movement of the shingle that maintains its stability.
Although originally formed by natural processes, Hurst Spit has been declining in volume, probably since the s when coast protection works in Christchurch Bay first began to interrupt the flow of the shingle towards the spit. In the spit was so weakened that it was danger of being permanently breached. A stabilisation scheme took place in This scheme rebuilt the shingle bank using dredged shingle, and saw the building of a new rock revetment utilising larvikite rocks shipped from Norway at the western end of the spit and near the castle.
The spit has to be replenished from time to time, most notably in the aftermath of the UK winter storms when New Forest District Council had to rebuild and reinforce parts of the spit. The spit no longer has its original natural appearance and looks "more like a railway embankment. Fossils from the Barton Beds were at one time a common sight amongst the gravel, but are now rare. In the s deposits of bitumen were also noted on the spit, and in there was even an attempt to establish a bitumen factory.
The origin of the bitumen is unknown, but it may be that the spit accumulated natural floating deposits of bitumen. Hurst Spit supports an important community of saltmarsh plants especially sea purslane Halimione portulacoides ; glasswort Salicornia species ; annual seablite Suaeda maritima ; and golden samphire Inula crithmoides. Behind the spit is an area of saltmarsh and mud flats known as Keyhaven and Pennington marshes. The marshes contain a variety of wildlife especially birds, invertebrates, and plant life.
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