Deal Castle

By the 1530s a castle was no longer a home with walls but a gun platform, and Deal is the clearest English example. It was built in 1539 and 1540 on Henry VIII's order as an artillery fortress against the threat of invasion: squat and low, with six rounded bastions around a central keep, six more low bastions linked by an outer curtain, and a stone-lined dry moat. It was planned for all-round fire from more than 140 guns mounted in five tiers; in 1547 it actually held 57. The rounded design left blind spots at the base of the bastion walls, which the arrowhead-shaped angle bastion soon addressed, so Deal marks the moment just before that change. Seen from above or from the moat, its lobed plan makes the artillery-fort idea instantly clear.