"Please read description and see pictures-it is also one of the several hundred vintage pieces received from a 30 to 100 yr. old collection dating back to the early to late 1800's that will be listed in the coming weeks"
Hurst Castle in Hampshire on the south coast of England is one of Henry VIII's Device Forts, built at the end of a long shingle spit at the west end of the Solent to guard the approaches to Southampton. Hurst Castle was sited at the narrow entrance to the Solent where the ebb and flow of the tides creates strong currents, putting would-be invaders at its mercy. Also known as a Henrician Castle, Hurst was built as part of Henry's chain of coastal defences to protect England during the turbulent times of his reign.
Charles I was imprisoned here in 1648 before being taken to London to his trial and execution. The fort was modified throughout the 19th century, and two large wing batteries were built to house heavy guns. It was fortified again in World War II and then decommissioned. It is now owned by English Heritage and is open to the public.
On 8 May 1700 the Privy Council ordered that Hurst Castle be used as a prison for priests convicted of fostering the growth of Catholicism ("popery"). On 26 September a Franciscan, Father Paul (Matthew) Atkinson, was convicted and sent to Hurst where he remained nearly 30 years, before dying in 1729. Atkinson seems to have been the only priest ever sent to Hurst, although the Privy Council Register entry for 1719 claims that another priest, Anthony de la Porte, was, at least, supposed to have been sent to Hurst Castle.
By the latter 18th century, Hurst Castle had become negelected to such an extent that it was being used as a rendezvous for smugglers led by a notorious character by the name of John Streeter.William Arnold, Collector of Customs at Cowes, considered it necessary in 1783 to request "a King's cutter also in Hurst Road ... to keep off the large cutters from landing their goods for three or four days at a time ... to ruin the Trade, because the expense of keeping a large number of men and horses collected together waiting the arrival of goods must materially diminish the profits arising from their sale." At the end of the 18th century, the first steps to refortification were begun, when earth-protected gun batteries were added.
The first lighthouse at Hurst was the Hurst Tower, sited to the south west of Hurst Castle, and lit for the first time on 29 September 1786. An additional and higher light - the High Lighthouse - was constructed in 1812.
These lighthouses were dismantled and replaced by two new lighthouses built in the 1860s. The first was the "Low Light" built into the rear wall of the west wing of the castle, which was superseded by the adjacent iron lighthouse in 1911. The second lighthouse was the "High Light" – the free standing Hurst Point Lighthouse built on the end of Hurst Spit between 1865 and 1867.
Hurst Spit is a barrier beach which shelters an area of saltmarsh and mud flats known as Keyhaven and Pennington marshes. The spit formed from loose flint pebbles which had been eroded from the cliffs further west. Modern sea defences along this stretch of coast have reduced the natural supply of pebbles to the extent that in 1989 the spit was so weakened that it was danger of being permanently breached. A stabilisation scheme which took place in 1996-7 rebuilt the shingle bank using dredged shingle.The distance across the Solent to the Isle of Wight is only three-quarters of a mile, but the sea between is very deep and the tide rushes past with great force.
Today, the castle can be accessed on foot along the shingle spit from the nearby village of Milford on Sea or by frequent ferry service from Keyhaven.