Decoding Henrician Forts from a 17th C manuscript

A February 2025 grant from the FSG to Dr Esther van Raamsdonk of Utrecht University and British historian Paul Pattison supported a ‘proof of concept’ for transcribing, translating and assessing the significance of a seventeenth-century manuscript in the State Papers held at the National Archives. This manuscript was understood to be the notes of a survey of the sixteenth-century Henrician ‘device’ forts by a Dutch engineer employed by the English crown.

Paul Pattison takes up the story “So far, the transcription of the manuscript’s 'title page' and individual entries for the two forts of Pendennis and St Mawes has revealed much about the manuscript as a whole, and, in conjunction with supporting research from clues in the manuscript, its date and probable associations are now known. We have also uncovered further details about our two sites in terms of their layouts and use. We have additionally discovered that there are 28 fortifications in the manuscript (6 more than originally thought) and that these are the field notes of an engineer engaged on the 1623 Ordnance survey. Having more knowledge of the direct context of our manuscript has been very illuminating."

These findings have been written up for a forthcoming article in FSG Journal FORT.

FSG are now (March 2026) making a new grant to Esther and Paul to enable work on two more sites, forming a geographical pair defending Portland Harbour (Portland Castle) and Sandsfoot Castle.

Paul explains the value of this new work “Sandsfoot Castle in particular is less well understood than many of the Henrician forts, especially the bastioned outworks defending the landward approaches, and the vanished gun platform in front of the curious (and surviving) main accommodation block. The drawing of Sandsfoot Castle in the manuscript is detailed and offers good potential for unlocking aspects of the castle design, while we are also hopeful of understanding the uses of rooms in both castles at the time of the survey."

Together with knowledge of Yarmouth, Isle of Wight (completed as part of an English Heritage guidebook re-write) and the Cinque Ports Castles (grant-aided by the Castle Studies Trust), data is gradually being amassed to understand the whole manuscript, and reveal the entire nature and condition of English South Coast fortifications in the early seventeenth century, which has hitherto been a dark period of documentation on English fortification history.

If you would like to support future FSG Grants please consider giving a donation using the following link. 

FSG will match your donations up to a total of £3000 in each round with the aim of having £6000 to offer in grants.

FSG fundraising appeal

Grant Details

Title: Continuation of Transcribing and Translating SP9/99: A Seventeenth-Century Dutch Survey of 22 English Castles and Fortifications

Recipient: Dr Esther van Raamsdonk of Utrecht University and Paul Pattison, independent historian

Purpose –

1. The completion of the transcription and translation of folios covering two castles/ fortifications; specifically Portland Castle and Sandsfoot Castle.

2. The extraction of information for revised and new interpretations about these places for popular and academic sources and for wider dissemination

3. The making accessible of our transcription and translation by various means

4. A provenance article on the manuscript

Value - £1440

Co-funding – Castle Studies Trust have funded the transcription of the Cinque Port forts.

Date Awarded – March 2026

Expected project duration – 6 months