Location: Edenbridge, Kent Map
Constructed: started in 1270
Tel. 01732 865 224
Open:
Apr- Oct: daily
Nov, Dec, Mar: Thu- Sun
Gardens Open:
11am- 6pm
Castle Open: noon- 6pm
Official site
Hever Castle is a medieval citadel that stands in Edenbridge, Kent in United Kingdom. The construction of the Hever citadel started in 1270. Hever Castle was bought in late 15th century by Geoffrey Bullen (Boleyn). He made a large fortune, was knighted and later became the Lord Mayor of London. He undertook significant reconstruction in the medieval castle making more comfortable for civilian life rather than a military fortress. His grandson Thomas Bullen (Boleyn) was born here in 1477 and in 1498 married daughter of the Duke of Norfolk, Elizabeth Howard. They had three surviving children including George, Anne and Mary.
Hever Castle was the country home of the Boleyn family. Built as
a country house in the 13th century, it was converted into a
manor house in 1462 by Geoffrey Boleyn, Lord Mayor of London.
The remains of the half-timbered dwelling can be seen between
the stone walls of the fortification. Some time after 1505 the
Boleyn family moved into Hever Castle. Anne Boleyn and her
siblings Mary Boleyn and George Boleyn spent part of their
childhood here before Anne was sent to the Netherlands and the
French royal court to be educated between 1513 and 1521. Three
years after Anne Boleyn married King Henry VIII, Anne and her
brother George were executed in 1536 for treason. Her father,
Thomas Boleyn, died in 1539. Hever Castle then came into the
possession of Henry VIII, who gave it to Anne of Cleves in 1540
after his divorce, although she is believed to have spent little
time there.
In the period that followed the building
changed hands several times, including the Waldegrave family in
1557 and the Meade-Waldo family from 1749 to 1903. In recent
periods the building, used by various private tenants, has
fallen into disrepair. In 1903 the British-American millionaire
William Waldorf Astor bought the property along with 51 hectares
of land. After the marriage of his son Waldorf Astor to Nancy
Witcher Langhorne in 1906, he gave the couple his residence in
Cliveden and moved to Hever Castle, which he completely restored
at great expense and rebuilt in a pseudo-medieval style. A
hamlet just outside the moat was also rebuilt and expanded in
pseudo-Tudor style. On his marriage in 1916 to Lady Violet Mary
Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, Astor's youngest son, John Jacob Astor
V (1886-1971), knighted Baron Astor of Hever in 1956, received
Hever Castle. The property is now a conference center but the
castle is open to the public. The impressive gatehouse is the
only surviving medieval part of Hever Castle.
Astor commissioned architect Frank Pearson to create a four-acre Italianate-style walled garden, for which he imported numerous sculptures and planters from the Villa Borghese. A Palladian-style pavilion, a loggia overlooking a large artificial lake with an island of 7 hectares and a replica of the Trevi Fountain complete the ensemble. The wall of the loggia was designed in the Pompeian style, containing niches and rotundas for statues and other archaeological finds looted from Rome. The square yew maze was created in 1904. In 2013 the yew trees were cut back radically to restore the original shape. Nearby is a group of topiaries cut into chess pieces and an Anne Boleyn garden which is landscaped with garden plants from her lifetime. Anne's orchard with espalier fruit houses beehives. A small water maze was opened in 1987. The extensive landscaped gardens include a rose garden, a blue garden and the Diana Walk with prairie-style perennial plantings.