Stone Castle is a castle at Stone

Stone, Kent

Stone, also known as Stone-next-Dartford, is one of a string of villages lying along the Dartford to Gravesend road on the south bank of the River Thames in Kent, England.-History:...

, near Bluewater 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...

, 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...

. It was built between 1135 and 1140 on the site where William the Conqueror signed a treaty with the men of Kent in 1067.

History

It was owned by the Wiltshire family, which included Bridget Wingfield, a close friend of Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...

, whose correspondence was used to help condemn the queen for adultery. In 1527, it was visited by Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More

Thomas More

Sir Thomas More , also known by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was an important councillor to Henry VIII of England and, for three years toward the end of his life, Lord Chancellor...

 and the Earl of Derby. This was around the time Henry was first battling to marry Anne Boleyn, who lived at Hever Castle

Hever Castle

Hever Castle is located in the village of Hever near Edenbridge, Kent, south-east of London, England. It began as a country house, built in the 13th century...

 twenty miles away.

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the RAF

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

occupied the castle. It is now owned by Blue Circle, and the land is leased to Land Securities in 2000, and the building to the Heritage Conference Centre, a corporate and private function venue.

External links

• www.heritagegateway.org.uk - Listed building information with details of the "new" house of c1825