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Leeds Castle, acclaimed as the most
romantic castle in England, is located in south-east England, built on
two adjacent islands in the river Len.
Leeds Castle was originally a manor of the Saxon royal family
possibly as early as the reign of Ethelbert IV ( 856-860). The first castle
was an earthwork enclosure whose wooden palisade was converted to stone and
provided with two towers along the perimeter. This is now vanished. Traces
of arches in a vault thought to be Norman were found at the beginning of
this century.
Around 1119 Robert Crevecoeur started to build a stone castle
on the site, establishing his donjon where the Gloriette now is. Stephen,
Count of Blois, and his cousin the Empress Matilda contested the crown of
England. In 1139 Matilda invaded England with the help of his brother
Robert, Earl of Gloucester, who held Leeds castle, but Kent was loyal to
king Stephen and following a short siege he took control of the castle.
The castle came into the possession of Edward I (1278) . He
rebuilt much of the castle as it stood at the beginning of his reign, and
enlarged it, providing an outer stone curtain round the edge of the larger
island, with cylindrical open-backed flanking towers and a square-plan
water-gate on the south-east. The gatehouse at the south-west, a single
tower pierced by an arched passage was improved.
Henry VIII, the most famous of all the owners of Leeds
Castles, expended large sums in enlarging and beautifying the whole range of
buildings. At the same time, he carefully retained the defences of the
castle for he often had cause to fear invasion from either France or the
Spanish . The king entrusted the work of alteration to his great friend Sir
Henry Guildford.
Leeds has been constantly inhabited and rebuilt since then.
Most of the castle today is the result of the nineteenth-century
reconstruction and addition.
In 1926 Leeds was bought by the Hon. Mrs. Wilson-Filmer,
known as Lady Baillie. Immediately she began the restoration of the castle
that took her over 30 years to leave it as it stands today. |
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