elaborate quarters, often in the upper levels of the keeps. The soldiers ate meat and fish, some of which might have been hunted or caught by the garrison. The garrisons were well organised, and a strict code of discipline was issued in 1539; the historian Peter Harrington suggests that life in the forts would have usually been "tedious" and "isolated". Soldiers were expected to provide handguns at their own expense, and could be fined if they failed to produce them. There were only around 200 gunners across England during the 1540s; they were important military specialists, and the historians Audrey Howes and Martin Foreman observe that "an air of mystery and danger" surrounded them. The rates of pay across the defences were recorded in 1540, showing that the typical pay of the garrisons was 1 or 2 shillings a day for a captain; his deputy, 8 pence; porters, 8 pence; with soldiers and gunners receiving 6 pence each. In total, 2,220 men were recorded as receiving pay that year, at a cost to the Crown of £2,208. Although most garrisons were paid for by the Crown, in some cases the local community also had a role; at Brownsea, the local town was responsible for providing a garrison of 6 men, and at Sandsfoot the village took up the responsibility for supporting the castle garrison, in exchange for an exemption from paying taxes and carrying out militia service. Armament The artillery guns in the Device forts were the property of the Crown and were centrally managed by the authorities in the Tower of London. The Tower moved them between the various fortifications as they felt necessary, often resulting in complaints from the local captains. Various surviving records record the armaments held by individual forts on particular dates, and between 1547 and 1548 a complete inventory was made of the Crown's possessions, detailing the weapons held by all of the forts. The number of guns varied considerably from site to site; in the late 1540s, heavily armed forts such as Hurst and Calshot held 26 and 36 guns respectively; Portland, however, had only 11 pieces. Some forts had more guns than the level of their regular, peacetime garrison; for example, despite only having an establishment of 13 men, Milton Blockhouse had 30 artillery pieces. A variety of artillery guns were deployed, including heavier weapons, such as cannons, culverins and demi-cannons, and smaller