Westenhanger Castle

Westenhanger Castle stands beside the railway station and racecourse grandstand in Kent. Built as a 14th-century fortified manor house, it began life nearly a thousand years ago when King Canute owned the estate. The de Criol family turned it into a permanent structure in 1343, but after the Wars of the Roses it passed to Sir John Fogge. Once the manor contained 126 rooms, yet over centuries it shrank and fell into ruin. Now the owners restore the stonework and adjoining medieval barns outside the curtain wall. The castle’s royal and noble past includes Henry II, Rosamund de Clifford, Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I. In 1588 Customer Smythe made it the command centre for 14,000 troops defending Kent from the Spanish Armada. Exiled Charles II nearly met his end here in 1656 when armed men hid in nearby woods to ambush him. The Smythe family held the estate until the 19th century, when it passed to Capt Hugh Baillie. Today the castle hosts conferences and weddings while English Heritage helps preserve its walls. Visitors find the restored manor house and curtain wall set among intact medieval barns. A full-scale replica of the Discovery, one of the three ships that reached Virginia in 1607, is housed inside. The grounds lie beside the racecourse entrance off Stone Street’s Westenhanger section. The barns and castle share the same ownership once more, and work continues to bring them closer to their original appearance.