Location: 4 miles (6.5 km) Southeast of Maidstone, Kent Map
Constructed: 1119
Tel. 01622 765400
Open: 10am- 5pm daily
Closed: for concerts, 25 December
The moated Leeds Castle is located about six kilometers
south-east of Maidstone and thus in the heart of the English county
of Kent. The castle and its grounds are named after the small
village of Leeds to which they adjoin. This village should not be
confused with the large city of Leeds, some 300 kilometers to the
north.
Leeds Castle was mentioned in the Domesday Book of
King William the Conqueror. It has been successively used over the
centuries as a Norman fortress, the residence of six medieval
queens, the palace of Henry VIII and a haven for the rich and
powerful. In the more than 1000 years of its existence, the castle
has survived many battles, accommodated powerful statesmen and
inspired numerous artists. Today it is managed by the Leeds Castle
Foundation and is the destination of many thousands of people
seeking relaxation every year.
857: The history of Leeds Castle begins in 857 with the building
of a royal mansion called Esledes. It was owned by the Anglo-Saxon
royal family during the reign of King Ethelbert of Wessex.
1278:
Under Edward I, who greatly enlarged and modernized the building,
Leeds Castle began its long tenure as a royal palace in 1278.
1321: When King Edward II's wife, Isabella of France, took refuge in
Leeds Castle one night in 1321, she was refused entry. The royal
tour company was even shot at by archers from inside the castle.
However, the king immediately took revenge for the hostile reception
of his queen and besieged the castle with catapult-like throwing
devices, so-called ballistas. A few years after Edward's death,
Queen Isabella was granted the castle until her death in 1358.
In
1395 King Richard II received the French poet and historian Jean
Froissart at Leeds Castle, an encounter which Froissart described in
his chronicles.
In 1403 Leeds Castle became the residence of
Queen Joan of Navarre (c. 1370-1437), the second wife of King Henry
IV, who was not particularly popular with the English people. Joan
was later accused of plotting to murder her stepson, King Henry V ,
but acquitted after four years in prison. Since that time, Leeds
Castle has had the reputation of being a women's castle.
In 1520
Leeds Castle fell to what is arguably its most famous royal owner,
King Henry VIII. He spent enormous sums remodeling the castle for
his first wife, Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536).
1660: The
restoration of the monarchy in 1660 marked the beginning of the
American chapter in Leeds Castle's history that continues to this
day. King Charles II granted Lord Culpeper over 5 million acres of
land in what was then the British colony of Virginia for helping the
exiled royal family. Lord Culpeper's son bought the castle and
leased it to the government as a prison for French and Dutch
prisoners of war. The prisoners set fire to the Gloriette, causing
damage that was not repaired until 1822.
In 1690 the castle and
grounds passed into the possession of Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord
Fairfax of Cameron. Leeds Castle remained in the family for over 100
years until the death of Robert Fairfax, 7th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
in 1793.
1793 Leeds Castle passed to various distant relatives of
the Fairfaxes but was little maintained for the next 30 years.
Architect William Baskett wrote a devastating account of the
condition of the buildings in 1821: the mill and barbican were in
ruins, the gatehouse and inner gatehouse were in a state of
disrepair, the Maiden's Tower was in imminent danger of collapse,
the Jacobean The main house fell into disrepair and the Gloriette
was more or less a ruin.
1821 The current owner, Fiennes Wykeham
Martin, decided to undertake various renovations and alterations.
The resulting new castle, which has not changed much from the
outside to this day, was completed in 1823
1926: Leeds Castle was
in a state of disrepair after several changes of ownership and had
been completely empty for two years when it was bought by wealthy
American couple Arthur Wilsen Filmer and his wife Olive Cecilia
Paget. Olive Cecilia Paget became known as Lady Baillie after
divorcing Arthur Wilsen Filmer and marrying Sir Adrian William
Maxwell Baillie. For the rest of her life, Lady Baillie spent much
of her inheritance restoring the castle and associated buildings, as
well as the park and grounds.
1930s: Lady Baillie was known as a
hostess. The Baillies lived in London during the week and held
lavish house parties at Leeds Castle at the weekends.
1939: After
the start of the Second World War, parts of the castle were used as
a hospital. Many of the wounded of the expeditionary forces who were
repatriated after the Dunkirk withdrawal were treated at Leeds
Castle. Additional premises were used for the rehabilitation of
severely burned pilots who were treated by well-known surgeons and
plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe at East Grinstead Hospital. At
the same time, however, secret weapon research with incendiary
weapons was also carried out on the palace grounds. The Minister in
charge of this work, Geoffrey Lloyd, was a regular visitor during
Lady Baillie's lifetime and later became the first Chairman of the
Leeds Castle Foundation.
In 1949, the castle was used as a
backdrop for the British film Nobility Obliged, in which Alec
Guinness played eight different roles.
1976: On her death in
1974, Lady Baillie bequeathed the castle to the Leeds Castle
Foundation, a private charitable trust whose aim is to preserve the
castle and grounds for the public. The castle was opened to the
public in 1976.
Leeds Castle and the grounds and gardens surrounding it are now a
major leisure center in the county of Kent. On the grounds there are
various bird houses, a golf course, a maze and the only dog collar
museum in the world. It is also a regular venue for outdoor concerts
featuring notable artists and an annual hot air balloon spectacle. In
2019, Leeds Castle was visited by around 540,000 people.
It
belongs to the Treasure Houses of England consortium.