拍品专文
Guarding the western approaches to the Solent, Hurst Castle was one of a chain of forts bulit by Henry VIII following the unexpected rapproachment between Francis I of France and the Hansburg Emperor Charles V which Henry perceived as a potential threat to England's security. Begun in 1541, Hurst's primary purpose was to protect the thriving commercial port of Southampton rather than the naval installations at Portsmouth and the castle was completed by the end of 1544. Although it is uncertain whether he designed it, Hurst was constructed under the supervision of the mason Thomas Bertie - whose work can be seen in Winchester Cathedral - and Bertie is also recorded as the first Captain (of the castle) in 1550. Subjected to periodic neglect due to lack of funds, Hurst was occupied for the King when the Civil War broke out in 1642 and was, in fact, Charles I's last prison (from 30 November 1648) before he was taken to Windsor prior to his trial and execution. Kept in good order under Cromwell's protectorate, Charles II perhaps motivated by spite given that Hurst Castle had been used to imprison his father - ordered it's demolition but it was unexpectedly reprieved when the cost of doing so had been calculated. Subsequently repaired and even strengthened in the 1670's, it continued to play a stragetic role in coastal defence well into the nineteenth century and in the mid-Victorian period it was the point at which the vital London-Osborne House telegraph cable crossed over to the Isle of Wight.