Westenhanger Castle
Encyclopedia
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
once owned by royalty, located next to Westenhanger railway station
Westenhanger railway station
Westenhanger railway station serves Westenhanger in Kent, England. The station is on the South Eastern Main Line 103 km south east of London Charing Cross. All trains serving Westenhanger are operated by Southeastern. It serves Folkestone Racecourse and the village of Stanford.British Rail...
and the grandstand of Folkestone Racecourse
Folkestone Racecourse
- External links :***...
in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. The castle has endured a period of steady decline to near ruination in recent years, but the current owners have engaged a programme of consolidation, conservation and restoration to the castle and adjoining buildings. It is now being used as a conference and wedding venue.
History
In its heyday, Westenhanger Castle was a fortified 14th century quadrangular manor houseManor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
reflecting the opulence of its owners at that time. However, its history began almost 1,000 years ago, in 1035, when King Canute owned the estate.
The de Criol family was initially responsible in 1343 for the early building of a permanent structure on the site. The castle stayed in the family until the War of the Roses (1461) when Sir Thomas de Criol was beheaded by Queen Margaret of Anjou
Margaret of Anjou
Margaret of Anjou was the wife of King Henry VI of England. As such, she was Queen consort of England from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471; and Queen consort of France from 1445 to 1453...
. Passing to son-in-law Sir John Fogge
John Fogge
Sir John Fogge was lord of the manor of Repton, in the parish of Ashford, Kent. An English courtier and soldier, and a supporter of the Woodville family under Edward IV who became an opponent of Richard III.-Life:...
(Sir Thomas did not have any sons himself), the manor house at the time contained 126 rooms.
Westenhanger has a rich history with royalty and nobility, being connected with Henry II
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
, Rosamund de Clifford, Edward Poynings
Edward Poynings
Sir Edward Poynings KG was an English soldier, administrator and diplomat, Lord Deputy of Ireland under King Henry VII of England.-Early life:...
, Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
, Queen Elizabeth I, Customer Smythe
Customer Smythe
Thomas "Customer" Smythe was the collector of customs duties in London during the Tudor period. His son and namesake Sir Thomas Smythe was an active supporter of the Virginia colony.-Early life:...
and Lord Strangford.
In 1588, under the ownership of Customer Smythe
Customer Smythe
Thomas "Customer" Smythe was the collector of customs duties in London during the Tudor period. His son and namesake Sir Thomas Smythe was an active supporter of the Virginia colony.-Early life:...
, Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
used the castle as the command centre for Kent’s 14,000 troops who were to defend the south coast from the Spanish Armada
Spanish Armada
This article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...
.
In 1656, the exiled Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
was persuaded to return to England, and Westenhanger, ideally located close to the English coast. Thousands of armed men were instructed to hide in the surrounding woodlands and when the King entered the house, word would be given for them to rush in and murder the King and his followers. However, the King was forewarned as he was about to leave for England.
Current
Through the centuries, the castle has been reduced in size and suffered serious neglect. Since the mid 1990s, the current owners have been working with English HeritageEnglish Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
to consolidate the stonework and prevent further deterioration of the manor house, castle walls and associated buildings. The impressive medieval barns which stand intact outside the curtain wall
Curtain wall (fortification)
A curtain wall is a defensive wall between two bastions of a castle or fortress.In earlier designs of castle the curtain walls were often built to a considerable height and were fronted by a ditch or moat to make assault difficult....
have recently been reunited with the castle under one ownership and work is ongoing to restore these barns to something near their original state.
It is now being hired out as a conference and wedding venue. Access is via the entrance to the racecourse, off the Westenhanger segment of Stone Street.
Colonisation of America
Westenhanger Castle is now home to a replica of the DiscoveryDiscovery (1602 ship)
Discovery was a 20-ton "fly-boat" of the British East India Company, launched before 1602.Discovery was the smallest of three ships that were led by Captain Christopher Newport on the voyage that resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia in 1607...
, one of the three ships that entered Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
on May 13, 1607. Sir Thomas Smythe, the founder of the expedition, was the son of Thomas ‘Customer’ Smythe
Customer Smythe
Thomas "Customer" Smythe was the collector of customs duties in London during the Tudor period. His son and namesake Sir Thomas Smythe was an active supporter of the Virginia colony.-Early life:...
, who was granted Westenhanger
Westenhanger
Westenhanger is a small village in south east Kent. It is home to Folkestone Racecourse and to Westenhanger Castle. It is located just south of Junction 11 of the M20, on Stone Street, the Roman road which runs from Lympne to Canterbury. Westenhanger also has its own railway station....
(or Ostenhanger, as it was then) as a reward for his service as the Queen’s collector of imports. The younger Thomas commissioned the construction of Discovery for the East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
in 1600 and, along with the Susan Constant
Susan Constant
Susan Constant, captained by Christopher Newport, was the largest of three ships of the English Virginia Company on the 1606-1607 voyage that resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia.-History:Susan Constant was rated at 120 tons. Her keel length is estimated at 55.2 feet...
and Godspeed
Godspeed (ship)
Godspeed, under Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, was one of the three ships on the 1606-1607 voyage to the New World for the English Virginia Company of London. The journey resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia.-History:All 39 passengers and 13 sailors she carried on that...
, the ship sailed for Virginia on December 19, 1606 under captain John Smith, arriving on May 13 the following year.
As a result of this expedition, the first permanent English-speaking settlement in the New World was subsequently established at Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...
, forming a base for what would later become the United States of America.
On December 19, 2008 the replica of the Discovery was presented to Westenhanger Castle by the Jamestown UK Foundation, a charity set up to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in 1607.