Worsleys Tower, Sharpnode Point
Has been described as a Certain Artillery Fort
There are no visible remains
| Name | Worsleys Tower, Sharpnode Point |
| Alternative Names | Sharpenrode; Round Tower Point |
| Historic Country | Hampshire and the Isle of Wight |
| Modern Authority | Isle of Wight |
| 1974 Authority | Isle of Wight |
| Civil Parish | Freshwater |
The site of Worsley's Tower, a small artillery tower, built in 1522-5 by Sir James Worsley for Henry VIII. Built at a time of conflict with the French, the tower was designed to defend the strategic Needles Passage in conjunction with Hurst Castle on the mainland. The tower was probably demolished in 1628-31 by the Governor of the Isle of Wight Lord Conway, having been replaced by the Sharpenode Battery. Worsley's Tower stood near to the shore, at a place which is known today as Round Tower Point. Its ruins have been gradually eroded away by coastal erosion, until nothing now remains, and the only indication of its presence is the name Round Tower Point.
The castle consisted of a squat, octagonal tower, six metres high and eight metres wide, with a single entrance. It was probably a single-storey structure with the artillery mounted on the roof so that it could fire through the embrasures on the parapets. There were gun ports in the lower walls near ground level which would have provided flanking fire. (PastScape)
Sir James Worseley (d.1538) built a round tower on the Isle of Wight. In 1539 the Earl of Southampton reported that if this "ill-devised" tower was rebuilt and a castle erected at Hurst, all shipping through the Solent could be commanded (Craster 1976).
Probably built 1522-5. The tower was a squat, octagonal tower 19 feet high and 26 feet in diameter with a single entrance. It was probably single storeyed mounting artillery through the roof parapets, and gun ports through the lower walls flanking the tower. This would have been a similar arrangement to the forts at Dover, Camber and Portsmouth. In 1559 it was fortified with 15 arquebuses, and 20 bows, pikes and bills. Probably demolished in 1628-31, having been replaced by the Sharpenode Battery (Kenyon 1979, Kenyon 1983, King 1983)
(PastScape)
On the west point of the entrance to the Yarmouth haven a watch and ward was kept day and night in the 14th century, and here in the reign of Elizabeth Sir George Carey built a 'sconce' called after his name, while half a mile to the west of it on the high ground of Norton Common Richard Worsley raised an outlook tower afterwards taken down by Lord Conway. (VCH)
Not scheduled
Not Listed
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
| OS Map Grid Reference | SZ332892 |
| Latitude | 50.7035293579102 |
| Longitude | -1.53039002418518 |
| Eastings | 433200 |
| Northings | 89200 |
