Daily Quiz for September 4, 2008

Deal Castle. Deal Castle is the largest of the Henrican forts built in 1539-40 to quell threats from France and the Holy Roman Empire toward England. Not often included among lists of Henry VIII's achievements is the creation of a system of defensive fortifications along the south and south-east coasts of England, from Falmouth in the south-west to the River Thames. The construction boom was financed in part by the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and many a monastery stone became part of a fort. Records do not show the exact number of guns held in Deal Castle; however, there are positions for nearly 200 artillery pieces of various sizes, so the fort would have been a formidable obstacle.