Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 February 1920 — Walmer Castle [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Walmer Castle

AMONG the numerous historical structures which the British cherish because in them, they feel, is visibly incorporated the prestige of England, not the least picturesque and Interesting is Walmer castle, on the coast of Kent, the official home of the lord warden of the Cinque ports. The lord wardenship is an older and more picturesque monument than Walmer castle. Thp office of lord warden is far more ancient than his dwelling. About that office are gathered the earliest activities out of which the British navy grew, writes Martin Conway in Country Life. The present functions of the lord warden may not be of any executive value as contributing to national defense, but, as long as there is a lord warden living at Walmer, the small beginnings of the navy in a remote past remain visibly memorialized. Such a memorial is more efficient than any pile of stone that the ingenuity of man could raise. Nothing more vividly brings the .past into the present or enforces on living men the amount of their indebtedness to those from whom they descend than a living ceremonial recurrently performed in accordance with an ancient and unbroken tradition.

Nd* one knows when the lord wardenship was founded or by what earliest stages it came Into being. Necessity enforced the defense of the southeastern coast of England, and to that end the small maritime forces of the little ports along it had to be coordinated. The original five ports were Hastings, Romney, Hythe, Dover and Sandwich; to these others were added, as well as Inland localities which had to contribute financial aid. Ultimately the jurisdiction extended round the coast from Seaford in Sussex to near Margate in Kent. Importance of the Cinque Porta. Throughout the Middle Ages down to the time of Henry VII the Cinque ports thus enlarged and organized had to furnish the crown with nearly all the ships and men needed for naval purposes. The oldest existing charter dates from Edward I, but it refers to older documents as far back as the time of Edward the Confessor. Duties and corresponding privileges went on accumulating. Such an organization could'not exist without a head, but his office was of correspondingly gradual growth. At one time it was an office of great power and importance. It was generally coupled with the governorship of Dover castle. The lord warden was admiral of the ports. He had his court of chancery at Dover. He still retains the duty of appointing the judge of the admiralty court of the Cinque ports as well as the justices of the peace in the same areas; but his most important functions have become decorative, monumental and picturesque, not, however, as aforesaid, unimportant. The maritime activity which led to the discovery of America and the beginnings of a world commerce necessarily made a great change in British naval affairs. Local levies of ships and sailors were bound to be replaced sooner or later by something in the nature of a national navy. The change is already apparent in the days of Henry VIII, and from that time the Importance of the Cinque ports as the nation’s naval base declined and with it the power of the lord warden. It Is noteworthy that the brection of Walmer castle dates from this period. It was built in the reign of Henry VIII along with other castles round the coast, such as the neighboring Deal and Sandown and the remote Lindisfarne on Holy Island In Northumberland. Previously the coast had been protected by a succession of earthworks, the Great and Little Bulwarke, for instance, within the parish of Walmer. They had embrasures for guns, and were connected by communication trenches. /I Built by Henry VIII. The Kentish castles built by Henry VTTT were completed about 1540 and placed under the control of the lord warden. The following description of them is compressed from Elgin: In the center Is the keep—a circular tower containing a bomb-proof magazine for ammunition. It is surrounded by bastions with fifty-two port-holes below, commanding the encompassing moat Tunnels or chimneys were contrived to carry off the smoke of the guns. There were law embrasures

for cannon near the upper part of the bastions. The entrance from the landward side was by a drawbridge and strong machicolated gateway. Within each castle was a well. The bastion walls were 20 feet thick below and 11 feet above. Their architect was probably one Steven von Haschenperg. The garrison of Walmer consisted of a captain, lieutenant, two porters, ten gunners and four soldiers. Less than a century later we read of Walmer castle as much decayed and threatened by the sea at high tides; moreover, rain drives into the rooms and powder houses, the gate is decayed “with loose stones hanging over,” and so forth. It was presumably patched up. During the Civil war the castles changed hands more than once. Walmer was besieged by Parliament troops in 1648, and held - out for a month before surrendering. It was “much spoiled with the granades,” but the repairs were only estimated to cost £3OO. The castles continued to be of military importance throughout the seventeenth century.

Additions by Lord Wardens. The first lord warden to make Walmer castle his residence was the duke of Dorset, appointed in 1708 and again in 1727. About 1730 he made various alterations and additions to the old structure to provide the necessary accommodation for a household; further considerable additions were made by Mr. Pitt, the earl of Liverpool, and Earl Granville. Apart from certain chambers belonging to the original military work and since merely adapted to the uses of domestic service, the oldest parts of the existing mansion are the chambers built by the duke of Dorset. Buck’s view, dated 1735, shows the general aspect of this building. It is raised over the central mass of the castle and follows the outlines of its walls. There Is nothing remarkable about the architecture or the decoration of the rooms. A small central hall, a long passage leading through It with others branching off as convenience dictated —these are the elements of the plan. The plain stone wall is pierced by oblong sash-win-dows and the crest of the wall is battlemented. The duke of Dorset’s additions were mainly on the sea front, which remains much as he left IL I believe the drawing-room was his-ja pleasant, sunny chamber —but Lord Granville added to It. Mr. Pitt built the rooms over J the southern rampart. Finally, In 1863, Lord Granville added a story containing thirteen rooms over, the gate-house bastion. He also built the tower. The stone employed came from the demolition of Sandown castle. He added to the drawing-room, as an alcove, the little room in which it is asserted that Nelson and Pitt used td confer. There Is nothing stately or Impressive about the aspect of the Interior, but the irregularity of the plan adds to the effect of domestic comfort and privacy which pervades the house. One can easily understand how successive families have become attached to It. Externally there are several quite impressive points of view, chiefly those which command the massive and precipitous walls rising from the moat. One of the walls, pulled down on the occasion of Queen Victoria’s visit to make a new dining-room, was soon afterward rebuilt. Talleyrand when he visited Walmer insisted on sleeping in Pitt’s room.

Walmer Castle.