Saltwood Castle

Saltwood Castle is a castle in Saltwood village, one mile (2 km) north of Hythe, Kent, England. Of 11th century origin, the castle was expanded in the 13th and 14th centuries. After the Norman Conquest, the castle was appropriated by the Archbishop of Canterbury Lanfranc and remained the property of the archbishops, with some interruptions, until 1540, when Thomas Cranmer was compelled to cede it to Henry VIII. The castle is reputed to have been the meeting place of the four knights who carried out the assassination of Thomas Becket in 1170. By the 19th century, it was "largely ruinous" and restorations to make portions of the castle habitable were carried out in the 1880s and 1930s.

In the late 19th century, the castle was bought by an ancestor of Bill Deedes, the journalist and politician, who grew up there. In the 20th century, it was sold to Sir Martin Conway who commissioned Philip Tilden to undertake a restoration. In 1953, the castle was bought by the art historian Kenneth Clark (1903–1983), and then became the home of his son, the politician and diarist, Alan Clark (1928–1999). It remains the private home of his widow, Jane Clark. The castle is a Grade I listed building.

Text adapted from “Saltwood Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Saltwood Castle ranks #2,968 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #194 of the 333 mapped in England. Founded c. 1100, it is older than 86% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 325 atlas entries founded in the 11th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,516 times in the last 60 days, more than 60% of the atlas. 7 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Southend-on-Sea, 57 km away. See how England compares in the castle statistics.

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