Allington Castle

Allington Castle stands beside the River Medway, about one mile north of Maidstone in Kent. Built first as an unauthorised motte-and-bailey in the 12th century, it was later rebuilt as a fortified manor house in the 13th century. The present stone castle has six towers set along its curtain wall and one of England’s earliest long galleries. It passed through the Cobham and Wyatt families before being seized by the Crown in 1554. After centuries of decay and two major fires, the castle was restored in the early 20th century. The castle is worth the journey for its layered history and royal connections. Henry VIII stayed there three times, and Cardinal Wolsey and Katherine Parr also visited. Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger held the first rebel meeting in its walls before marching on London. The poet Sir Thomas Wyatt was born at the castle in 1503. Later, the mountaineer Sir William Martin Conway bought it in 1905 and spent thirty years restoring the ivy-covered ruins. Visitors find a restored medieval complex with a gatehouse, towers and domestic ranges grouped around two courtyards. The long gallery survives in part, and the gatehouse lodge still contains a priest hole. The river front offers calm reflections of the stone walls. Tours run from Maidstone on the Kentish Lady river boat, giving a quiet approach to the castle’s remaining moat and ivy-clad façades.