Sandgate Castle - Construction 1539-1540

Construction 1539-1540

The original castle, started in 1539, is one of the most comprehensively documented of its time and the record still exists in the British Library. The total cost of the build was some £5,584.7s.2d. The construction took 18 months and the accounts were closed on 2 October 1540. The comptroller for the build period, Thomas Cocks, was paid the grand sum of £50 and the build employed around 500 people using 147,000 bricks, 44,000 tiles at 4s per thousand, a thousand cartloads of oak, 9.5 tons of lead and 4.5 tons of iron. 16d per day was paid for carts to haul stone and materials. Richard Lynsted was master mason. Sandgate's construction was supervised by Stefan von Haschenperg, who signed the accounts, though he was not often present. Haschenperg disagreed with other officials over the roofing materials. He preferred tar and pitch rather than less flammable lead, and this was a feature of his other building at Camber Castle.

The original castle comprised a large, three-storey central keep surrounded by two concentric curtain walls. The inner curtain wall had three smaller, round towers and the outer curtain wall had a three-storey gatehouse to the north (still in almost its original form) and a rectangular building or barbican connecting it to the central keep. All of the buildings were originally roofed and the castle was designed so that it rose progressively from the outside in to provide up to four tiers of heavy guns. These were positioned behind 65 embrasures or gun ports and there were also gun loops in the lower levels of the towers and buildings to provide flanking fire.

Sandgate’s sister castles were Sandown Castle, Kent, Walmer Castle and Camber Castle, in Kent and Sussex respectively. Sandown no longer exists, it was taken by the sea some years ago and Camber Castle is derelict. Walmer Castle, however, remains in the ownership of English Heritage and is the home of the Warden of the Cinque Ports.