Netley Castle is a castle in Netley in Hampshire, England. The castle, now situated near the village of Netley Abbey on Southampton Water, was built in around 1542 as part of Henry VIII's chain of coastal fortifications which are known as Device Forts or Henrician Castles. Whilst estimates of the Fort’s exact construction date vary, it was functioning by at least 25 March 1545, when the records for payments to the garrison began.
It was one of the twelve forts built under the direction of Sir William Paulet for the defence of Southampton and Portsmouth.
The castle was manned until 1647. Its military importance declined and it was eventually sold in 1881 to Col. Sir Harry Chrichton, and converted into a private house. Col. Chrichton lived at the Castle until his death in 1922.
In 1938 the castle was purchased by Middlesex County Council and spent much of the 20th century as a publicly owned convalescent home. The building was in the 1990s sold once more for accommodation and remains private.
The castle building itself is a Scheduled Monument, (reference Hants 233), whilst both the castle and its adjacent buildings are also Listed Grade II* in the Department of the Environment’s List of Buildings of Architectural and Historic Interest (DoE, 1980).[1] The Scheduled Monument does not include the grounds.
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