Leeds Castle

We were looking forward to seeing Leeds Castle, despite the gray skies, but when we arrived we were confronted by the news that the Castle interiors could not be visited because of a fault of some kind. We were offered the opportunity to come back another time, but we live far enough away to make it impractical. However, we pressed on making an almost complete circuit of the buildings.

A castle has existed on the site since 857. In the 13th century, it came into the hands of King Edward I, for whom it became a favourite residence. In the 16th century, Henry VIII used it as a dwelling for his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. 

There were various owners until Robert Fairfax owned the castle for 46 years until 1793 when it passed to the Wykeham Martins. Sale of the family estates in Virginia released a large sum of money that allowed extensive repair and the remodelling of the castle in a Tudor style, completed in 1823, that resulted in the appearance today.

The Wykeham Martins were forced to sell the castle and estate in 1924, in order to meet death duties. The last private owner was Lady Baillie, who made improvements to the interior. Upon her death in 1974, Lady Baillie left the castle to the Leeds Castle Foundation, a private charitable trust whose aim is to preserve the castle and grounds for the benefit of the public.

We started our walk on the west side of the castle and our first discovery was that it was built on islands in a lake formed by the River Len to the east of the village of Leeds.

We headed anti-clockwise passing the ruins of some much earlier stage of the castle's history.

Continuing in the same direction we reached the imposing Barbican.

As we continued in this direction we had a different view point on the entrance. If you look closely you can see various people and machines deployed in repair work.

Here is a further, more detailed view of the east side of the Castle.

And here is a close up of the large buildings.