Westenhanger Castle facts for kids
Westenhanger Castle is a very old, strong house in Kent, England. It was once owned by kings and queens! You can find it near the Westenhanger train station. The castle used to be falling apart, but its current owners are working hard to fix it up. Now, it's a popular place for weddings and meetings.
A Look Back in Time
Westenhanger Castle is very old. Its story began almost 1,000 years ago in 1035. Back then, a king named King Canute owned the land.
The de Criol family built the first strong house here in 1343. It was a large, fancy manor house with many rooms. The castle stayed with this family for a long time.
During the Wars of the Roses, a big fight between two royal families, Sir Thomas de Criol was killed. Since he had no sons, Westenhanger went to his son-in-law, Sir John Fogge. At that time, the house was huge, with 126 rooms!
Many famous people were connected to Westenhanger Castle. These include kings like Henry II and Henry VIII, and queens like Queen Elizabeth I.
In 1588, when Customer Smythe owned the castle, Queen Elizabeth used it as a command center. She gathered 14,000 soldiers in Kent to protect the coast from the Spanish Armada, a huge fleet of ships from Spain.
Later, in 1656, there was a plan to trick and kill King Charles II at Westenhanger. He was living away from England at the time. Thousands of armed men were told to hide in the woods nearby. They planned to attack him when he arrived. Luckily, the King found out about the plan just before he left for England, so he was safe.
What's Happening Now
Over many years, the castle became smaller and was not looked after well. Since the mid-1990s, the current owners have been working with English Heritage. They are fixing the stone walls and other parts of the castle to stop them from getting worse.
There are also impressive old barns outside the castle walls. These barns are now owned by the same people as the castle. Work is being done to make them look like they did a long time ago.
Today, Westenhanger Castle is rented out for events like conferences and weddings. You can get to it through the entrance to the nearby racecourse.
Connection to America
Westenhanger Castle has a cool link to the founding of America! It is now home to a copy of the Discovery ship. This was one of the three ships that sailed into Chesapeake Bay in America on May 13, 1607.
Sir Thomas Smythe helped start this trip. He was the son of Customer Smythe, who owned Westenhanger Castle. The younger Thomas ordered the Discovery to be built. Along with two other ships, the Susan Constant and Godspeed, the Discovery sailed to Virginia on December 19, 1606. Captain John Smith was on board.
Because of this trip, the first permanent English settlement in the New World was built at Jamestown, Virginia. This settlement became a key part of what is now the United States of America.
On December 19, 2008, the copy of the Discovery ship was given to Westenhanger Castle. This was done by a group celebrating 400 years since Jamestown was founded.
