The Cinque Ports

Henry built three castles on the Kentish coast in response to the threat of invasion from Catholic Europe. The enemy never came because they were too busy fighting each other, but Henry kept building. Two of these are Walmer Castle and Deal Castle. A third castle, Sandown, was similar to the other two, but has nearly disappeared because of neglect. These castles were built as forts, but the finally destiny was much different. The castles were built in an unusual shape, looking similar to a flower from above. After centuries of castle building, they discovered that curved walls are much stronger. The centre of the castle is a round tower, the keep, and several rings of semi-circular bastions, which are not as tall as the keep, surround it. Deal has more bastions, six, Walmer has only four. Deal is the largest of the castles, and has one more outer ring. The castles were built with money and stone that came from the dissolution of the monasteries. The castles weren't needed when fighting foreign entities, but they were used during the civil war in the 17th century.

Deal Castle still has a Captain, but it is mostly an honorary title (the current guy's picture was up and he looked about 80 years old). Deal remained a fortress, with few changes, except in the upper living area. Changes were made to make the castle more comfortable and dignified for the men who lived and worked there.

We began our tour on the top of the outer bastions. There were some canons sitting there with piles of canon balls. The canon balls each weighed 32 lb. apiece. The castle sits right on the coast of the North Sea, and from the bastions you can look out and watch the ferries moving in and out of Dover. On a good day, you can even see the coast of France. We moved down to the basement into the tunnels, which line the outer wall of the outer bastions. The basement is below ground level, but a sort of moat was dug around the castle, with a steep curtain wall around the moat. The top of the curtain wall is level with the ground. If an invader came up to the castle, which would have been difficult to see from the sea, they would have to face the canons on the top of the bastions. Then if they got down into the moat, they would have to face the soldiers shooting from inside the bastions.

The tunnels were very small and dark, with embrasures (openings in a wall for firing through). There were also little cubbies, which may have been used to store weapons. As you move into centre of the castle, you find a maze of rooms used for storing weapons and gunpowder (it was vital to keep the gunpowder cool and dry). In the very centre of the keep was the well. It is interesting to note that the walls in the basement were not very pretty. This castle, as well as the other two on the downs, was built rapidly and cheaply, and without consideration for comfort. So, the stones used are not smooth, the stairway into the tunnels looked more like a hastily dug tunnel than a stairway.

We moved up to the ground floor. There are no rooms at this level in the outer bastions. These rooms have ovens and other things used in the daily living in the castle. Again, it is like a maze, with semi-circular rooms going around the central keep and each room opening into the next. The upper floor, reached by a circular stair in the very centre of the castle has rooms only in the keep itself. It was the main living area for the captain and the governor, and was refurbished in the 18th century. It has wood paneling and windows, to let in light. Again, the rooms open into each other in a circle, and it is impossible to tell which rooms were the more important rooms in the 16th century. One room still has the original waddle and daub wall (English Tudor style of building). There is also a room where they have hung all the pictures of the Captains of Deal Castle.

It was an interesting view into what a fort looked like. It is in remarkable shape, although there were never really any acts of aggression to test its strength.

The other castle had a much different destiny. Walmer castle, just a mile south of Deal, began as a fort, but it became the official residence of the Lords Warden of the Cinque Ports. I am not sure what the Lords Warden actually does. When the southeast corner of England was a major port area, the Lords Warden was in charge of The Confederation of the Cinque Ports, which controlled the defense and cross-channel trade. The current Lord Warden is HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. A few more famous Lords Warden were The Duke of Wellington, the Prince of Wales (Edward, in 1905), and Winston Churchill.

Since people lived in this castle, for at least some of the year (because they all had other homes), it was transformed into a beautiful country house. Instead of the crisp clean lines of the fort at Deal, the moat at Walmer has been landscaped with beautiful trees and flowers. The walls of the outer bastions are covered with ivy, and there are formal gardens as well as a woodland walk, croquet pitch and other less formal gardens. We were only able to see a few rooms in the castle, as a great portion of it is still an apartment for the Queen Mum when she comes to stay (it is said to be one of her favorite homes). Of course, when she is there, you cannot visit.

There are a few rooms inside the castle that you can visit. They have been made into a museum with pieces of furniture from the Duke of Wellington and William Pitt, two of the Lords Warden. There are several fine collections, including a collection of commemorative coins, and Wellington memorabilia. There is even a display of the famous Wellington boots (known today as 'wellies'). One of the bedrooms is decorated, as it was when the Duke lived at Walmer. There is also two rooms that were occupied by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and their two eldest children, when they lived there for a months in 1842. The Duke of Wellington actually moved out and extensive renovations were made to the house for that visit. Other rooms to visit are the anteroom and the Dining Room. You can also see a parlor displayed as it looked in the 1920's.

Outside, you can spend hours roaming through the gardens. There is a walkway, which is lined with yew trees and a herbaceous border. The yew trees, due to weather, have grown in interesting shapes, if you look hard enough, you can see faces and animals in the trees. There is a formal garden, dedicated to the Queen Mother, and it has a reflecting pool as well as roses and other flowers. The kitchen garden has some interesting trees. We noticed some trees that were tied up similar to the way they grow grapes or kiwi, but the fruit was not either. As we looked closer, we realized that they were some sort of dwarf apple tree. The fruit looked very yummy. We took a nice walk around the woodland walk and looked for plant and insect life. It was a pleasant visit.