Cooling Castle

Cooling Castle stands in the village of Cooling on the Hoo Peninsula in Kent. It is a 14th-century quadrangular castle built by the Cobham family to defend against French raids along the Thames Estuary. The castle has a unique design with two walled wards of different sizes, surrounded by moats and ditches. It was one of the earliest English castles designed to use gunpowder weapons, with special holes for arquebuses in its gatehouse. The castle was captured in 1554 during Wyatt’s rebellion and suffered heavy damage, leading to its abandonment. The castle’s history includes notable figures like John de Cobham, who built it, and his granddaughter Joan, whose husband Sir John Oldcastle was executed for heresy. Sir Thomas Wyatt’s brief siege in 1554 left the castle in ruins, and it was never rebuilt. The Cobhams later moved to Cobham Hall, and the castle fell into disrepair. Today, part of the outer ward houses a farmhouse where musician Jools Holland lives, while a nearby barn serves as a wedding venue. Visitors can see the remains of the two wards, each with its own moat and walls. The outer ward, larger and rectangular, has standing towers and parts of the curtain wall still intact. The inner ward, smaller and square, sits on a higher mound with views over the outer ward and countryside. Traces of buildings remain inside, including the ruins of a vaulted undercroft. The gatehouse, designed with arquebus holes, and the surviving towers show the castle’s military purpose. Though private property, the castle can be viewed from the road.