page_title: Walmer Castle
section_title: 20th–21st centuries
hierarchical_section_title: Walmer Castle / History / 20th–21st centuries
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo by Michael Garlick
context_page_description: Walmer Castle is an artillery fort originally constructed by Henry VIII in Walmer, Kent, between 1539 and 1540. It formed part of the King's Device programme to protect against invasion from France and the Holy Roman Empire, and defended the strategically important Downs anchorage off the English coast. Comprising a keep and four circular bastions, the moated stone castle covered 0.61 acres and had 39 firing positions on the upper levels for artillery. It cost the Crown a total of £27,092 to build the three castles of Walmer, Sandown, and Deal, which lay adjacent to one another along the coast and were connected by earthwork defences. The original invasion threat passed, but during the Second English Civil War of 1648–49, Walmer was seized by pro-Royalist insurgents and was only retaken by Parliamentary forces after several months' fighting.
  In the 18th century, Walmer became the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and was gradually modified from a military fortification into a private residence.
context_section_description: By 1904 the War Office had concluded that Walmer had no remaining military value and agreed to transfer the castle to the Office of Works, who accepted it on the condition that they were paid £2,400 in order to carry out repairs. The Office's survey noted that "the lower floor ... is very inconvenient, dark and not conducive to health while the women servants have to sleep in a sort of dormitory in the slopes of the roof... The principal floor is, generally speaking, badly arranged and badly lighted and the Dining Room is very small"; the report suggested that it would be best to demolish the building and rebuild it.
  Proposals were made to find the next Lord Warden, George Curzon, the Marquess Curzon, alternative accommodation and the Royal Marines were approached as replacement tenants for the castle, but declined the offer. The Ministry acquired agreement for most of the castle to be opened to the public, with various historical objects related to the property being put on display, including some donated by King Edward VII. Lord Curzon moved into the castle when returned from India in 1905. His wife, Mary, fell ill, which Curzon believed to be a result of their poor accommodation, and despite being moved to a new residence, she died shortly afterwards. As a result, Curzon decided to resign the post of Lord Warden, leaving the castle, and subsequently the Prince of Wales, the future George V, took up the post.
  William Lygon, the Earl Beauchamp, became the Lord Warden in 1913, building a Roman Catholic chapel at the castle and holding large parties there each summer. His children later commented that they found the castle was chilly and cramped. The Prime Minister, Asquith, was invited by Beauchamp to use the castle during the First World War as a weekend retreat, as it had good communication links with the front line in France. Asquith's wife, Margot, was not initially impressed by Walmer, noting in her diary that while it was "very distinguished" and had "great charm", it was "terribly exposed" with "cold... noisy corridors and small rooms"; she later came to like the castle and noted that she was sad to finally leave it.
  Lygon had sexual relations with men, which was illegal in England during this period. Rumours spread about the parties that he had held at Walmer Castle after the war, where, according to the historian Richard Davenport-Hines, he had "behaved indiscreetly with young men". The King was informed about his lifestyle and Lygon fled the country in 1931, resigning the appointment of Lord Warden the following year.
  Lygon's successor, the politician Rufus Isaacs, the Marquess of Reading, became the Lord Warden in 1934, holding jovial family gatherings there. His wife, Stella, attempted to restore Wellington's old bedroom to its earlier appearance during the Duke's tenure and, as part of this project, the 4th Duke of Wellington agreed to send the original contents of the room back to the castle, where they still remain. The politician Freeman Freeman-Thomas, the Marquess of Willingdon, became Lord Warden in 1936, followed by Sir Winston Churchill who followed him in 1941 during the Second World War. Churchill noted to the Minister of Works and Buildings that he had told King George V on taking up the position that he doubted that he would be able to live at Walmer Castle during the war, as it was within range of the German artillery along the French coast, or indeed that he would able to afford to live there afterwards, and for that reason he hoped that the state would maintain the castle and gardens, and decide what use it should be put to after the war.
  Sir Robert Menzies, the Australian politician, became the Lord Warden in 1965 and visited the castle on an annual basis, staying in the flat there. Elizabeth the Queen Mother followed Menzies in 1978, initially visiting the castle from the Royal Yacht, but from 1986 onwards taking over the entire castle for three days each July. This required moving furniture, silverware and other furnishings from London and caused difficulties for English Heritage, who manag
caption: Three cannons on the one of the castle's firing platforms
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