Chilham Castle
Encyclopedia
Chilham Castle is a manor house
and keep
in the village of Chilham
, between Ashford
and Canterbury
in the county of Kent
, England
. The polygonal Norman
keep of the Castle, the oldest building in the village, dates from 1174; still inhabited, it was said to have been built for King Henry II
. But archaeological excavations carried out in the 1920s suggest that it stands on the foundations of a much older Anglo-Saxon
fortification, possibly dating from the fifth century, and there is evidence of earlier Roman habitation in the vicinity.
building, within sight of the "Old Castle" (the keep), was completed in 1616 for Sir Dudley Digges
on a hexagonal plan, with five angled ranges and the sixth left open. It has battlemented parapets, clustered facetted brick chimneys and corner towers with squared ogee cappings. The Victorian tradition that this bold but vernacular house was designed by Inigo Jones
is not credited by architectural historians. Indeed Nicholas Stone
, a master mason who had worked under Jones's direction at Holyrood Palace
in 1616, and at the Whitehall Banqueting House
, was commissioned to add a funerary chapel to Chilham church for Sir Dudley Digges, to contain Stone's funerary monument to Lady Digges, in 1631-32; if any traces of the manner of Jones were discernible at Chilham Castle, Nicholas Stone might be considered as a candidate. It is, nevertheless, one of the finer mansions in the south-east of England and commands exceptional views across the valley of the River Stour, Kent
.
The gardens, said originally to have been laid out by John Tradescant the elder
, were redesigned twice in the eighteenth century. First, under the London banker James Colebrooke (who bought the estate from the Digges family) fine vistas were created stretching to the river and then, under Thomas Heron (who acquired the estate from Colebrooke's son Robert), Capability Brown
made further recommendations for change, some of which were implemented. Chilham Castle was purchased by James Wildman in 1794 and in 1816 was inherited by his son James Beckford Wildman
, who sold it in 1861, because of falling income after emancipation of the slaves on the family estates in the West Indies. Plans of Chilham showing some of the substantial changes made to the building by David Brandon
for Charles Hardy in 1862 and by Sir Herbert Baker
for mining magnate Sir Edmund and Lady (Mary) Davis in the early nineteen twenties are conserved in the Victoria & Albert Museum.
The present terracing, altered in the eighteenth and twentieth centuries, leads down to a fishing lake dating from the time of Charles Stewart Hardy in the 1860s and 70s. The walls to the grounds date mostly from the eighteenth century, although the two gatehouses were only added in the early 1920s, again replacing a very different 19th century one.
From 1949 until his death in 1992 it was owned by the Hon. John Clotworthy Talbot Foster Whyte-Melville Skeffington Chilham Castle is currently owned by UKIP
activist Stuart Wheeler
, who lives there with his wife Tessa and his three daughters, Sarah, Jacquetta
, and Charlotte.
The site now hosts the Chilham Park Equestrian Centre.
In 1965 it was used for part of the filming of The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders
starring Kim Novak
, Leo McKern
and Angela Lansbury
. In 1985 Chilham Castle featured in an episode of 1980's police drama Dempsey & Makepeace
as Makepeace's family home (filmed summer 1984). The episode was titled 'Cry God For Harry' and most of the hour-long episode was filmed in the castle and its grounds. It also featured in the first episode in 1989 of the ITV adventure game show Interceptor
produced by Chatsworth Television
who were responsible for the earlier Treasure Hunt
series. A medieval joust was being held there and a contestant was required to take part in order to progress further in the show.
In 1994, the castle featured in an episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot
(ITV
), as Simeon Lee's manor house Gorston Hall.
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...
and keep
Keep
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...
in the village of Chilham
Chilham
Chilham is a parish in the English county of Kent. Visited by tourists worldwide, it is known for its beauty. Chilham has been a location for a number of films and television dramas...
, between Ashford
Ashford, Kent
Ashford is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. In 2005 it was voted the fourth best place to live in the United Kingdom. It lies on the Great Stour river, the M20 motorway, and the South Eastern Main Line and High Speed 1 railways. Its agricultural market is one of the most...
and Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
in the county of 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...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The polygonal Norman
Norman dynasty
Norman dynasty is the usual designation for the family that were the Dukes of Normandy and the English monarchs which immediately followed the Norman conquest and lasted until the Plantagenet dynasty came to power in 1154. It included Rollo and his descendants, and from William the Conqueror and...
keep of the Castle, the oldest building in the village, dates from 1174; still inhabited, it was said to have been built for King 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...
. But archaeological excavations carried out in the 1920s suggest that it stands on the foundations of a much older Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
fortification, possibly dating from the fifth century, and there is evidence of earlier Roman habitation in the vicinity.
History
The JacobeanJacobean architecture
The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James I of England, with whose reign it is associated.-Characteristics:...
building, within sight of the "Old Castle" (the keep), was completed in 1616 for Sir Dudley Digges
Dudley Digges
Sir Dudley Digges , of Chilham Castle, Kent , was a Member of Parliament, elected to the Parliament of 1614 and that of 1621, and also a "Virginia adventurer," an investor who ventured his capital in the Virginia Company of London...
on a hexagonal plan, with five angled ranges and the sixth left open. It has battlemented parapets, clustered facetted brick chimneys and corner towers with squared ogee cappings. The Victorian tradition that this bold but vernacular house was designed by Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones is the first significant British architect of the modern period, and the first to bring Italianate Renaissance architecture to England...
is not credited by architectural historians. Indeed Nicholas Stone
Nicholas Stone
Nicholas Stone was an English sculptor and architect. In 1619 he was appointed master-mason to James I, and in 1626 to Charles I....
, a master mason who had worked under Jones's direction at Holyrood Palace
Holyrood Palace
The Palace of Holyroodhouse, commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace, is the official residence of the monarch in Scotland. The palace stands at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle...
in 1616, and at the Whitehall Banqueting House
Banqueting House
In Tudor and Early Stuart English architecture a banqueting house is a separate building reached through pleasure gardens from the main residence, whose use is purely for entertaining. It may be raised for additional air or a vista, and it may be richly decorated, but it contains no bedrooms or...
, was commissioned to add a funerary chapel to Chilham church for Sir Dudley Digges, to contain Stone's funerary monument to Lady Digges, in 1631-32; if any traces of the manner of Jones were discernible at Chilham Castle, Nicholas Stone might be considered as a candidate. It is, nevertheless, one of the finer mansions in the south-east of England and commands exceptional views across the valley of the River Stour, Kent
River Stour, Kent
The River Stour is the river in Kent, England that flows into the English Channel at Pegwell Bay. Above Plucks Gutter, where the Little Stour joins it, the river is normally known as the Great Stour. The upper section of the river, above its confluence with the East Stour at Ashford is sometimes...
.
The gardens, said originally to have been laid out by John Tradescant the elder
John Tradescant the elder
John Tradescant the elder , father of John Tradescant the younger, was an English naturalist, gardener, collector and traveller, probably born in Suffolk, England...
, were redesigned twice in the eighteenth century. First, under the London banker James Colebrooke (who bought the estate from the Digges family) fine vistas were created stretching to the river and then, under Thomas Heron (who acquired the estate from Colebrooke's son Robert), Capability Brown
Capability Brown
Lancelot Brown , more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English landscape architect. He is remembered as "the last of the great English eighteenth-century artists to be accorded his due", and "England's greatest gardener". He designed over 170 parks, many of which still endure...
made further recommendations for change, some of which were implemented. Chilham Castle was purchased by James Wildman in 1794 and in 1816 was inherited by his son James Beckford Wildman
James Beckford Wildman
James Beckford Wildman was an English landowner and Tory politician who served as a Member of Parliament for Colchester from 1818 to 1826. His properties included plantations in Jamaica and Chilham Castle in Kent, England, which he sold in 1861. The Jamaican plantation, Quebec Estate, was...
, who sold it in 1861, because of falling income after emancipation of the slaves on the family estates in the West Indies. Plans of Chilham showing some of the substantial changes made to the building by David Brandon
David Brandon (architect)
David Brandon was a British architect. In partnership with Thomas Wyatt, he worked mostly in the Gothic style.Brandon worked at a number of English country houses and churches, these include: Badminton House, Basildon Park, Bayham Abbey, Benenden House, Chilham Castle, Fonthill Abbey, Hemsted...
for Charles Hardy in 1862 and by Sir Herbert Baker
Herbert Baker
Sir Herbert Baker was a British architect.Baker was the dominant force in South African architecture for two decades, 1892–1912....
for mining magnate Sir Edmund and Lady (Mary) Davis in the early nineteen twenties are conserved in the Victoria & Albert Museum.
The present terracing, altered in the eighteenth and twentieth centuries, leads down to a fishing lake dating from the time of Charles Stewart Hardy in the 1860s and 70s. The walls to the grounds date mostly from the eighteenth century, although the two gatehouses were only added in the early 1920s, again replacing a very different 19th century one.
From 1949 until his death in 1992 it was owned by the Hon. John Clotworthy Talbot Foster Whyte-Melville Skeffington Chilham Castle is currently owned by UKIP
United Kingdom Independence Party
The United Kingdom Independence Party is a eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Whilst its primary goal is the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, the party has expanded beyond its single-issue image to develop a more comprehensive party platform.UKIP...
activist Stuart Wheeler
Stuart Wheeler
Stuart Wheeler is a British businessman and politician. He made his fortune as the founder of the spread betting firm IG Index in 1974, but is best known for his political activism, being formerly a major donor to the Conservative Party and since 2011, has been treasurer of the United Kingdom...
, who lives there with his wife Tessa and his three daughters, Sarah, Jacquetta
Jacquetta Wheeler
Jacquetta Wheeler is an English model. Her father, Stuart Wheeler, is an entrepreneur and political activist to UKIP, and mother Tessa was a photographer....
, and Charlotte.
In 1965 it was used for part of the filming of The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders
The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders
The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders is a 1965 British historical comedy film directed by Terence Young and starring Kim Novak, Richard Johnson and Claire Ufland...
starring Kim Novak
Kim Novak
Kim Novak is an American film and television actress. She began her career with her roles in Pushover and Phffft! but achieved greater prominence in the 1955 film Picnic...
, Leo McKern
Leo McKern
Reginald "Leo" McKern, AO was an Australian-born British actor who appeared in numerous British and Australian television programmes and movies, and more than 200 stage roles.-Early life:...
and Angela Lansbury
Angela Lansbury
Angela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
. In 1985 Chilham Castle featured in an episode of 1980's police drama Dempsey & Makepeace
Dempsey & Makepeace
Dempsey & Makepeace is a British television crime drama made by London Weekend Television for ITV, created and produced by Ranald Graham...
as Makepeace's family home (filmed summer 1984). The episode was titled 'Cry God For Harry' and most of the hour-long episode was filmed in the castle and its grounds. It also featured in the first episode in 1989 of the ITV adventure game show Interceptor
Interceptor (TV series)
Interceptor was a British game show created by Jacques Antoine and produced by Chatsworth Television for Thames Television in 1989, and shown on the ITV network during that summer, with the hosting its last show on 1 January 1990 for a New Year bonanza...
produced by Chatsworth Television
Chatsworth Television
Chatsworth Television was a British television production company. The most renowned examples of their programmes are Treasure Hunt , Interceptor and The Crystal Maze...
who were responsible for the earlier Treasure Hunt
Treasure Hunt (UK game show)
Treasure Hunt was a popular UK game show, based on the format of the French show La Chasse au Trésor, created by Jacques Antoine. It appeared on Channel 4 between 28 December 1982 and 18 May 1989 and was revived by BBC Two between 16 December 2002 and 2 August 2003.-The game:A team of two...
series. A medieval joust was being held there and a contestant was required to take part in order to progress further in the show.
In 1994, the castle featured in an episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot is a British television drama that has aired on ITV since 1989. It stars David Suchet as Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot. It was originally made by LWT and is now made by ITV Studios...
(ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
), as Simeon Lee's manor house Gorston Hall.