The Citadel from Mount Batten to the south

Plymouth's 'Royal' Citadel, as it is sometimes known stands on a rocky eminence: Plymouth Hoe, some 25 metres above sea level overlooking to the south Plymouth Sound and the entrance to Cattewater and the valley of the River Plym and to the north the the medieval centre of the city. With its commanding location it is hard to imagine, given the archaeological discoveries at Mount Batten, that there was not early settlement activity here but regular archaeological monitoring of work in and around the Citadel has failed to record any features earlier than the late medieval although, of course, it is possible that the extensive building work could have swept all traces away. The oldest confirmed structure was the chapel of St. Catherine, shown on early maps with a west tower which functioned as a beacon for navigation and single nave and chancel. This was later rebuilt within the perimeter of the citadel. On the southern edge of the town lay the first military structure in the area: the medieval castle, a quadrangular work with four round towers with a portion of the gatehouse still surviving, however the earliest reference to defences on the Hoe itself comes from a mention of 'Thykpeny's bulwark' in 1486 for which William Bovey was paid the sum of seven shillings and six pence for its annual maintenance.

Municipal records (click here for extracts) for the sixteenth century describe an active programme of construction and repair work to 'bulwerkes' on the 'Howe' some of which were clearly earth and timber and well armed. The guns were kept in the guild hall and brought out at times of trouble and perhaps for exercises. There is a reference to gunners using floating barrels for target practice and money paid for repairs to the chapel following damage to the roof. The blockhouse at Fishers Nose was constructed along with a series of similar works along the south coast either late in the fifteenth or early in the sixteenth century but is certainly shown on a map from the early 1500s. A curious chevron shaped figure to the west of the chapel may represent one of the earthwork defences. A more detailed view from around 1540 not only portrays the Fishers Nose blockhouse but also a similar construction at the west end of the Hoe but also a series of defensive walls along the water's edge. Again just to the west of the chapel the drawing of an unusual wedge shape may be an attempt to show an earthwork defence with two embrasures.

       

Great use was not made of outworks. According to the De Gomme plan a ravelin covered the northern approach and a pronounced glacis slope made the most of the natural fall of the land. A west sally port with covering ravelin was added to the west curtain some time before 1820. Despite the moat having been filled in in 1888 and subsequent remodeling of the surroundings to create public pleasure grounds the bulk of these earthworks survive.

The interior was marked with a number of fine buildings. the former seventeenth century governor's house was extended shortly after completion and is, again to quote Pevsner and Cherry, "of three stories, with prominent string courses and a modillioned cornice, paired windows, two re-used granite doorways with star pattern spandrel reliefs and shaped end gables." Other seventeenth century buildings include the guardhouse and the former store house. The chapel was rebuilt in 1845 but retains a seventeenth century granite door surround from the seventeenth century successor to the medieval building. Most other buildings grouped around the central parade ground are late nineteenth century.

J.M.W. Turner toured Devon and Cornwall in 1811, returning to Devon in 1813 and 1814. On these occasions he painted several views of Plymouth some of which offer useful images of the citadel in the early years of the nineteenth century.