Day 281 - What's the Deal with Walmer?

The gardens of Walmer Castle

Our time is winding down here in Hythe, and tomorrow we leave for Jersey, one of the Channel Islands between England and France.  So today Angela and I decided to check out some more historical sights here in Kent. It was hot again, but that did not stop us and we decided to use our English Heritage membership to take in two castles, both on the coast and up-channel from Dover. It would require a bus trip back into Folkestone, but at least we could take an air-conditioned train from there to Walmer where our adventure would begin. It's also an interesting train ride because it travels through tunnels to Dover and includes a coastal portion that runs along some of the famous white cliffs that surround it. After Dover, the train travels inland across fields of barley until arriving closer to the coastline at Walmer.

The residence at Walmer

Walmer is a town that lies to north of Dover and just south of Deal. Our plan was to walk the mile from the station to Walmer Castle, which lies right on the coast, and then along the coast to Deal. Walmer Castle was built as part of a plan by Henry VIII to protect a portion of the Kent coast that is not dominated by high chalk cliffs. He felt that this is where the French and the Holy Roman Empire would invade England in response to his creation of the Church of England and rejection of the Papal power of the Catholic Church. Not only was the landscape flat and the beach easily accessible, the offshore portion was protected from major currents and was a popular anchorage (known as the Downs Anchorage) for ships seeking shelter from the storms. So Henry built Walmer and Deal castles.

Big Julie landed hereabouts

Walmer Castle was built over 18 months beginning in the spring of 1539. It has one central round keep in the middle and four semi-circular abutments that allowed for guns to be pointed in all directions over a series of levels. The entire castle was surrounded by a dry moat. Of course, the invasion never happened and it didn't see any action until the English Civil War in the mid-1600s when the Royalists and the Parliamentarians fought over it. That was about the extent of its military use, and it then became the home of the Warden of the Cinque Ports (as referred to in our earlier posts in this blog), which was mostly a ceremonial position. 

Some impressive residents included the Duke of Wellington and William Pitt, the former Prime Minister. The fortification was expanded and renovated to make it more of a residence and today one can take a tour of the place and see the rooms made up in different vintages of its history. Some parts remain closed to the public as the Warden still has a residence in the castle. There is also extensive grounds with gardens, including a vegetable garden used by the castle kitchen and a garden that belonged to the Queen Mother when she was the Warden right up until she died in 2002.

I thought it rained in England all the time?

The heat made the castle's restaurant too warm for lunch inside and the outside tables were not in the shade so we began our walk along a paved coastal path towards Deal. You couldn't tell where the waterline stopped and the horizon began. It was so still, not a breeze or a visible cloud. 

Along this section was where Julius Caesar first landed to invade England in 54 B.C. About 2 kilometres later we arrived at Deal Castle (and an ice cream!). It too is comprised of a central keep, but has a surrounding circular fortification connected by tunnels. Canons could be placed upon it so that it could cover 360 degrees of area. It was built the year after, and like Walmer, the castle was part of the English Civil War struggle, but eventually became a residence, in this case that of the Captain reporting to the Warden. The Captain position was also a ceremonial appointment and remained so until the Captain's residential extension was demolished by a Luftwaffe raid during the Second World War. After the war the location became a tourist attraction and has remained that way to this day.

After our visits to these two locations it became clear as to why Henry demolished the nearby abbeys.  He needed the stone to build these battlements.  In fact, you can still see carved stone from the abbeys in the outer walls of Deal Castle.

Deal Castle

Ale of the Day:  Master Brew, Kentish Ale, Shepherd Neame Brewery, Faversham, Kent