The Royal Citadel as seen from Mount Batten

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The Royal Citadel of Plymouth was built in the late 1660s to the design of Sir Bernard de Gomme, overlooking the Plymouth Sound, on the site of the earlier Plymouth Fort that had been built in the time of Sir Francis Drake. King Charles II decided it was necessary after the Dutch Wars of 1664-67 to realise the importance of Plymouth as a channel port. Possibly due to Plymouth's support for the Parliamentarians in the Civil War the guns could also fire on the town itself.