Hurst Castle

Hurst Castle stands magnificently at the end of a long, narrow spit that extends 1.5 miles from Milford on Sea. The castle was built by Henry VIII as one of a chain of coastal fortresses and was completed in 1544. The Tudor fort at its heart still looks much as it did in the 16th century. It is one of the best preserved of Henry VIII’s castles and one of very few of them to have been successively updated and strengthened, allowing it to retain an active military role in the 20th century. Hurst Castle is managed on behalf of English Heritage by Hurst Marine, a local family business that has been associated with the castle for more than three generations.