Chiddingstone's community castle

Kent glories in a wealth of famous castles, but Chiddingstone Castle hasn’t really been on the same radar occupied by such luminaries as Leeds Castle, Scotney, Dover or neighbouring Hever.

All that is set to change, however, now that it has re-opened after an extended period of restoration. A picturesque Gothik revival nestling in the rolling Kent Weald, it sits in 35 acres of Grade II listed landscaped gardens, including an award-winning Orangery, surrounding a lake and enclosed by woodlands.

Down the road is the gorgeous, much-filmed village of Chiddingstone (think A Room with a View and Elizabeth R), much of which is owned by the National Trust, with its row of pretty Tudor houses, heavily beamed pub and lovely old church.

Owned for many years by the Streatfeild family, the village was the centre of the parish of Chiddingstone, which also includes the Hoath, the Causeway, Wellers Town and Threshers Fields.

A chequered history
During its life, the castle, which dates back to the early 1500s, has undergone a number of architectural changes and has been owned and lived in by an extremely varied collection of people and families.

The early timber-framed Tudor dwelling, built by the Streatfeild family, was first transformed into High Street House in the 1670s. It then went through another change of image in the early 1800s when the then owner, Henry Streatfeild, decided to remodel the ancestral home in the ‘castle style’ which was then fashionable.

He commissioned William Atkinson to design the changes but, alas, funds ran out and the plans were never completed. The castle’s transformation had to wait until the 1830s when a design by Henry Kendall was partially finished.

The Streatfeilds didn’t live in the castle after 1900 and finally sold it to Lord Astor in 1938. Largely neglected during the early 20th century, it served as a base for the Canadian Armed Forces during the Second World War (as some rather choice graffiti reveals) and was a home for Long Dene School until it closed in 1954.

Denys Eyre wanted to share his passion for objects of beauty

Everything was to change, however, when Denys Eyre Bower bought the castle in 1955 to display his wonderfully eclectic art collections. A banker with Midland Bank for many years, Denys never did any work because he was always off collecting, much to the annoyance of his employers, and he eventually gave up banking to start his antiques business.

A passionate and somewhat eccentric individual, Denys devoted his life to amassing his impressive collections of Japanese lacquer and Egyptian antiquities, as well as manuscripts and memorabilia of Stuart and Jacobite history.

He wanted to share his passion for objects of beauty, hence displaying his collections in the castle for the public, and when he died in 1977 he left both to the nation so that everyone could enjoy them.

His own life, however, was tinged with controversy and in 1957 he was imprisoned for the attempted murder of his girlfriend, as well as attempted suicide, before eventually being released in 1961 and returning to live in the castle.

Today, his home is under the stewardship of the Trustees of the Denys Eyre Bower Bequest and is a member of the Historic Houses Association of Great Britain. Shut since 2005, the ‘new’ castle that emerged this Easter weekend bears the testimony of some extremely hard work and canny investment by a handful of truly dedicated individuals.

Chairman of the Trustees, and a member of that historic Chiddingstone family so closely linked to the castle, Mark Streatfeild, takes up the story: “The castle was in a pretty critical financial state and we needed to replace a lot of the display cases and cabinets before we could do anything. We worked out an extensive business plan with the Charities Commission and soon became aware that to actually succeed and prosper, we would need some kind of financial gift.”

Director of Chiddingstone Castle, Alex Lochrane, who joined the team last August, explains that the difficult decision to sell a painting of Nell Gwyn by Sir Peter Lillie had to be taken to release much-needed funds.

“It was a hard and sad decision to take, but the Trust was staring down the barrel of closure and dispersal, so Nell – with all her assets – saved the day,” he says. “We hope that Christies, one of our trustees, will make a copy of the portrait and she can return to the castle.”

And speaking just a week after its re-opening, Mark can already prove how far they have come: “On Good Friday we had more than 400 visitors and even on Easter Sunday and Monday, with all that terrible weather, we had another 250. The last year the castle was open, we had just 1,000 visitors during the whole year.”

This is a wonderful family home and one of the things people mention is the warmth and welcome of the actual castle itself

So why do the trustees feel it is so important to fight for the survival of the castle? Mark explains: “Firstly, there’s Deny Bower, he was a remarkable man with an amazing eye and his Japanese and Egyptian collections are among the finest in the country. It was vital that these collections stayed together: if the castle closed, they would have been separated and spread around various museums in the country.

“Secondly, this is a wonderful family home and one of the things people mentioned that Easter weekend is the warmth and welcome of the actual castle itself.

“And thirdly, there’s the village of Chiddingstone itself. I’m very lucky, I was born here, grew up here and went to school here – we are very privileged to live in a village like this. We have made sure we integrate the educational angle into the life of the castle, which we want to make something the village can be part of and proud of.”

Alex agrees: “We have a tiny team here and what has been achieved in the last three months is extraordinary – six months ago we were setting up the infrastructure, but three months ago we started actually shifting bricks, repairing rotten floors, repairing walls that had been damp beyond description, because we were able to with that funding kick-start we got at the end of last summer.

“The team of just seven, including two well beyond retirement age and two students who have joined us straight from their Masters degrees, have a right to be furiously proud of what they have achieved.”

A key member of that team is archivist Naomi McAinish, who brings experience from both Harvard and Cambridge to the role. She has identified Chiddingstone’s principal target community as the family, and has introduced structured activities for children not only during school visits but also when they visit as part of a family group.

“We wanted to strike a balance between the quite academic collections we have here and making it fun for all the family,” she explains. “I really believe that we have a part to play in bringing families back together, they can write their name in hieroglyphics using magnetic tiles, do paintings and crafts, dress up or work in the Victorian kitchen.

“We want people to be part of the ‘Chiddingstone experience’ – not just the castle.”

A real departure
In a real departure for many ‘hands off’ stately homes and attractions, here the younger visitors can get involved in making everything from Samurai helmets or Victorian peg dollies to rolling butter pats in the castle kitchen and searching for the Streatfield ghost in the extensive grounds.

The activity rooms are supervised (scissors are sharp in tiny hands) and it’s a great way to engage young minds and make the experience a memorable one – as well as tying in neatly with Key Stage Two learning.

For their mums and dads, there’s a myriad of wonderful things to see – star of which has to be the Japanese collection, including one of the best collections of Japanese lacquer in the western hemisphere, Samurai swords and armour dating from the 14th to 18th centuries, as well as a number of Buddhist items.

The Egyptian collection is similarly fantastic, inspired by Denys’ interest in the discoveries of Tutankhamen and the work of Egyptologist Sir Flinders Petrie. It has been curated in topics – daily life, gods and pharoahs, etc – but as yet only about half is on display.

Alex adds: “In 2005, the cabinets here were ridiculously out of date and the rest were death traps. The new cases housing the Japanese collection alone have set the Trust back over £30,000, but they will last a generation.

“Phase 1 was getting open again, phase 2 is what we call ‘future building’, which means we will go out and fund raise, look for grants to let us adapt two more rooms in the castle for display.

“Then we will move the Egyptian collection into more environmentally secure areas, freeing up the space to get the Buddhist collection back on show and, as resources become available, we will be able to buy some decent cabinets to get the Japanese manuscripts back on display. So it’s very early days.

“We want a lot of the collections to be on rotation anyway, so that when people return it’s not exactly the same as on their last visit. This is just the beginning.”

More information

Chiddingstone Castle

Edenbridge

TN8 7AD

Tel: 01892 870347

Open: 21 Mar to 28 Sep on Thu, Frid, Sun and Bank Hols, 10am to 4pm

Admission: adults £6, child (5-13) £4, family £18. Groups welcomed by prior arrangement (min. 20): £5 per person.

The castle can be hired for weddings, corporate and private functions and as a conference centre.

20 Sep: Chiddingstone Fundraising Ball.

Champagne reception followed by an optional tour of the collections before a three- course dinner and dancing in a marquee, 6pm to 11pm.

Tickets £100 per head inclusive of all food, drink and entertainment (tables of 10).

Contact the castle for further information and to book tickets.

How to get there

On the outskirts of Chiddingstone, the best approach is via the B2027 from Tonbridge to Penshurst. Turn into Mill Lane when you reach Bough Beech and keep straight for one mile.

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