Salcombe Castle

One more interesting fact that I have learned about Salcombe's military history while I was there is how it's ruined castle came to be that way. I had thought that it was simple neglect. The estuary that it protected was not a real estuary like those of the Dart or the Exe. It does not contain a river, it is simply a valley that sank below the rising sea level at the end of the last ice age. Therefore unlike the Dart or the Exe estuaries it does not provide an easy way to trade with the interior of the country and is so less economically valuable.

However Salcombe's castle did not simply fall into disuse since it had only a limited trade to protect, it was actively pulled down by the Parliamentary forces at the end of the English Civil Wars. During those wars Salcombe, and most of the south western peninsular of England sided primarily with the Royalist cause, and as everybody knows they lost. Being on the loosing side of civil war is generally a bad place to be so those that could hold out did so, and having a castle that can be supplied by sea means you can hold out for quite a long time.

Castle Cornet back in Guernsey was somewhere just like that, a Royalist castle supplied by sea and trying to hold off the moment that it had to surrender. They did it rather well and in the end they were the last Royalist stronghold to surrender. Salcombe castle didn't hold out so long, but they did hold out long enough that it annoyed the Parliamentary forces so much that after they had captured the place they tore it down.