St Catherines Castle was built in 1536 and is one of several fortifications running along the south coast to be built by Henry VIII. It is a small artillery fort, built to defend Fowey harbour. St Catherines Castle has two storeys with gun ports at ground level. Below the 16th century fort is a two gun battery built in 1855
St Catherines Castle ruins are now managed by English Heritage. It can be reached via a short path from the beach.
The blockhouse and bastioned curtain wall are on the tip of a rocky headland at the entrance to the River Fowey estuary. The blockhouse was refurbished in 1855 to form a gun battery during the Crimean War.
It was used as a practice battery later in the 19th century. In 1940 an emplacement was dug for a Second World War gun battery at the Point.
St Catherines Castle English Heritage information
It faces Polruan across the water in Fowey.
St Catherines Castle on Wikipedia