Chilham Castle

Chilham Castle stands in the village of Chilham, between Ashford and Canterbury in Kent. It is a Jacobean manor house with a Norman keep, the oldest building in the village, dating from 1174. The keep may have been built on an older Anglo-Saxon fortification from the seventh century. The manor house was completed in 1616 for Sir Dudley Digges. The gardens were redesigned twice in the 18th century, first by James Colebrooke and later by Capability Brown. The castle commands views across the valley of the River Stour. The keep is still inhabited and is one of the oldest dwellings in Great Britain. In 1320, it hosted a reception for Edward II and his entourage. The Jacobean house has battlemented parapets, clustered chimneys and corner towers. Architectural historians doubt Inigo Jones designed the house, though Nicholas Stone worked on it. The gardens were laid out with long vistas stretching to the river. Visitors find the polygonal keep, the Jacobean manor and the surrounding gardens. The terracing leads down to a fishing lake dating from the 1860s. The grounds have walls mostly from the 18th century and two gatehouses added in the 1920s. The castle has appeared in films and TV series, including Agatha Christie adaptations. The Chilham Park Equestrian Centre operates on the site.