The keep roof
An open view over the Solent to the Isle of Wight, with ships passing through the channel the fort was built to guard.
In the summer of 1545 Henry VIII stood on these ramparts watching his fleet engage the French in the Solent, and saw his prized flagship the Mary Rose heel over and sink within sight of the walls. The fort was barely a year old. Henry had it built in 1544 to cover the deep-water channel into Portsmouth harbour, with a square central keep, gun platforms and angled bastions that were among the earliest of their kind in England. The story is a great deal bigger than the place, and that is the one thing to know before you go. Because the castle is small. A thorough circuit, from the cobbled courtyard through the short film about its history and up onto the keep roof and ramparts, takes 45 minutes even if you read every panel. The real payoff is the view: the open sea, the Isle of Wight on the horizon, and ferries and container ships passing through the very channel the fort was built to guard. The white lighthouse set into the rampart in 1828 is still standing and gives the castle its best-known profile. What you see today is largely the work of Portsmouth City Council, which bought the castle in 1960 and stripped it back to its pre-1850 appearance after centuries of remodelling and a brief spell as a military prison. Entry is free and unbooked, 10am to 5pm, Tuesday to Sunday, April to October only. In winter the keep and ramparts close and only the courtyard and its cafe stay open, so do not plan a winter visit around the view. With children it is a good hour: room to run, cannon to inspect, walls to climb by stone stairs. Pushchairs stop at the courtyard, though, since the only way up is by steps, and the cobbles are hard going on wheels. The Courtyard cafe in the yard, with a rooftop bar terrace, opens year-round and makes a fair coffee stop before you move on. The trick is to fold it into a seafront day rather than make it the destination. The D-Day Story museum is a few steps along the same esplanade, Southsea Common spreads out behind for a picnic, and Old Portsmouth is half an hour on foot along the water. The nearest buses (3, 18 and 23) stop on Palmerston Road, about ten minutes' walk from the castle. From Portsmouth and Southsea or Fratton stations it is about a 35-minute walk; drivers can use the pay car park at the D-Day Story next door. On summer weekends the beach around the castle fills up, but the castle itself never has a queue.
An open view over the Solent to the Isle of Wight, with ships passing through the channel the fort was built to guard.
Henry VIII watched his flagship sink from here in 1545; her raised hull is now displayed at the city's Historic Dockyard.
A white lighthouse of 1828 built into the rampart, and the castle's signature photograph.
Clarence Esplanade, Southsea, Portsmouth PO5 3PA
Not as a standalone trip; it is small and has no exhibits to rival the Mary Rose Museum. But it is free and completes the story, since you look out from the ramparts at the spot where the ship went down. Make it a 45-minute stop on a seafront day with the D-Day Story next door, not a separate outing.
Only the courtyard and cafe. The keep and ramparts, which are the point of the visit, are closed from November to March, so on a winter trip just walk past it on the esplanade.