[TR 37755010] Walmer Castle [NR]. (1) Walmer Castle - 1539. The official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. (2) Walmer Castle, in the care of the Ministry of Public Building and Works, is maintained in excellent condition and is as described in the Ministry Guide Book "Deal and Walmer Castles". (Open to the public). (3) Walmer Castle. Grade II. Walmer Castle c1539 for Henry VIII, built as moated coastal fortification, residential additions c1730 for the Duke of Dorset, as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, enlarged 1874 by G. Devey for Lord Granville. The moat originally filled by tidal water, but dry by c1800. In centre of northern meadow, a pill-box c1940. (4) Additional bibliography. (5-15) Additional bibliography - not consulted. (16-19) Archaeological and historical description. (20)

"The southernmost of three castles built to protect the Downs and part of the coastal defence measures of Henry VIII. Now the official residence of the Lords Warden of the Cinque Ports. Walmer Castle, Deal Castle and the now destroyed Sandown Castle were built in 1939 as protection for the coast and the anchorage of the Downs; the stretch of water sheltered by the Goodwin Sands. These defence works were in response to a threatened invasion by the forces of France and Spain. The castles were completed and garrisoned by the end of 1540. Deal and Walmer were linked by an entrenchment interspersed with earth bulwarks. Similar earthworks continued to Sandown Castle. During the Kentish uprising which followed the execution of Charles I in 1648, the garrisons of the Downs castles joined the rebels and the castles were besieged before recapture by Parliamentary forces. During the Anglo-Dutch wars the castles performed their intended role in protecting shipping in the Downs but were increasingly obsolete as fortifications. In 1708, the Duke of Dorset became the first Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports to use Walmer Castle as his official residence. He increased the number of first floor rooms by building out from the keep over the bastions. The most substantial additions were made by the second Earl Granville in the 1870s." (25)

Dendrochronology dating of the ceiling beams gave a date range of 1535-1555. (26)

2014 analysis of new oak and pine samples, alongside the samples previously taken pre-1998, indicated that: "the majority of the reused timbers from the roof of the Keep are likely to have been felled in the range AD 1535–60, presumably for the Henrician construction during c AD 1539–42, although it is possible that one of the reused timbers could be slightly earlier. Two of the ceiling joists from the stockroom/utility room were felled in AD 1500–25 and AD 1533–58 respectively, whilst a third joist was unlikely to have been felled before AD 1475. A stud post to a ground-floor partition wall has an estimated felling date of AD 1490–1515. Interpretation of the sapwood on the pine timbers from the Gatehouse roof suggests that that they were likely to have been felled in the later-seventeenth century or possibly the early eighteenth century. Ten measured oak and two pine samples remain ungrouped and undated." (27)

Survey of the glass (28)

Historic England archive material (29)

<1> OS 25"1957 (OS Card Reference). SKE48289.

<2> MHLG (1035/11/A June 1947) 20 (OS Card Reference). SKE46902.

<3> F1 ASP 19-JUN-64 (OS Card Reference). SKE42186.

<4> Deal & Walmer Castles 1963 (M O W) (OS Card Reference). SKE39690.

<5> The Landscape of Walmer Castle 1984 (E Banks R Flenley and H Neilson) (OS Card Reference). SKE50403.

<6> Country Life 46 1919 552-7 584-90 (M Conway) (OS Card Reference). SKE39433.

<8> Hist of the King's Works 4 (2) 1982 369 404-5 461-65 (H M Colvin) (OS Card Reference). SKE44038.

<9> JBAA 39 1883 418-19 (T Morgan) (OS Card Reference). SKE44951.

<10> Castellarum Anglicanum 1 1983 235 (D J Cathcart King) (OS Card Reference). SKE38618.

<11> VCH Kent 1 1908 444 (J Chalkley Gould and E A Downman) (OS Card Reference). SKE50918.

<12> The English Castle 1936 110 (H. Brown) (OS Card Reference). SKE50341.

<13> The Castles of Great Britain 1953 266-67 (S Toy) (OS Card Reference). SKE50260.

<14> Castles An Intro to the Castles of England and Wales 1953 24 56 fig 1 (B H St J O'Neill) (OS Card Reference). SKE38622.

<15> A Hist of Fortification from 3000 B C to A D 1700 1955 245-246 (S Toy) (OS Card Reference). SKE32815.

<16> Arch Cant 23 1898 24-30 (W L Rutton) (OS Card Reference). SKE34858.

<17> A Handbook of Kent's Defences 1540-1945 1977 17 (sic) 30 (D H Bennett) (OS Card Reference). SKE32806.

<18> BOE North East and East Kent 1983 489 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE38268.

<19> Country Life 88 1940 190-4 (A Oswald) (OS Card Reference). SKE39459.

<20> Home Counties Mag 7 1905 149-51 illus (OS Card Reference). SKE44167.

<21> Castles of England 1 1897 55 (J D Mackenzie) (OS Card Reference). SKE38633.

<22> Mariner's Mirror 1965 155-71 (OS Card Reference). SKE46551.

<23> Deal and Walmer Castles Eng Heritage Guide 1988 5-16 18-20 30-42 photos plan (A D Saunders) (OS Card Reference). SKE39692.

<24> Field report for monument TR 35 SE 15 - June, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE6082.

<25> Victor Smith and Andrew Saunders, 2001, Kent's Defence Heritage (Unpublished document). SKE6956.

<26> Vernacular Architecture Group, ADS Dendrochronology Database, Vol. 28, Pg. 130 (Website). SKE17391.

<27> historic england, 2015, Walmer Castle, Kingsdown Road, Deal, Kent: Tree-Ring Analysis of Oak and Pine Timbers (Bibliographic reference). SKE31736.

<28> Dungworth D & Girbal B, 2011, Walmer Castle, Deal, Kent: analysis of window glass: technology report (Unpublished document). SKE55415.

<29> Historic England, Archive material associated with Walmer Castle Scheduled Monument (Archive). SKE55416.