Leeds Castle, Kent
Leeds Castle, Kent is in Leeds, Kent.
In 1312 Bartholomew Badlesmere 1st Baron Badlesmere (age 36) was appointed Constable of Leeds Castle.
In Oct 1321 Margaret Clare Baroness Badlesmere (age 34) refused entry to Isabella of France Queen Consort England (age 26) at Leeds Castle, Kent [Map].
In Oct 1321 Isabella of France Queen Consort England (age 26) was returning from Canterbury, Kent [Map] to London. She sought accommodation at Leeds Castle, Kent [Map] which was under the protection of Margaret Clare Baroness Badlesmere (age 34) the wife of Bartholomew Badlesmere 1st Baron Badlesmere (age 46). Margaret Clare Baroness Badlesmere (age 34) refused entry to the Queen killing around six of her retinue when they tried to force entry. King Edward II of England (age 37) commenced the Siege of Leeds Castle. Once King Edward II of England (age 37) gained possession of the castle, he had the garrison hanged from the battlements. His wife Margaret Clare Baroness Badlesmere (age 34), her five children (Margery Badlesmere Baroness Ros Helmsley (age 13), Maud Badlesmere Countess of Oxford (age 13), Elizabeth Badlesmere Countess Northampton (age 8), Giles Badlesmere 2nd Baron Badlesmere (age 6) and Margaret Badlesmere Baroness Tibetot (age 6)), and her nephew Bartholomew "The Elder" Burghesh 1st Baron Burghesh (age 34), were imprisoned in the Tower of London [Map].
Letters of Horace Walpole. Rochester, Kent [Map], Sunday.
We have finished our progress sadly! Yesterday after twenty mishaps we got to Sissinghurst to dinner. There is a park in ruins, and a house in ten times greater ruins, built by Sir John Balier, chancellor of the exchequer to Queen Mary. You go through an arch of the stables to the house, the court of which is perfect and very beautiful. The Duke of Bedford has a house at Cheneys, in Buckinghamshire, which seems to have been very like it, but is more ruined. This has a good apartment, and a fine gallery, a hundred and twenty feet by eighteen, which takes up one side: the wainscot is pretty and entire: the ceiling vaulted, and painted in a light genteel grotesque. The whole is built for show: for the back of the house is nothing but lath and plaster. From thence we Went to Bocton-Malherbe, where are remains of a house of the Wottons, and their tombs in the church; but the roads were so exceedingly bad that it was dark before we got thither, and still darker before we got to Maidstone: from thence we passed this morning to Leeds Castle [Map].347 Never was such disappointment! There are small remains: the moat is the only handsome object, and is quite a lake, supplied by a cascade which tumbles through a bit of a romantic grove. The Fairfaxes have fitted up a pert, bad apartment in the fore-part of the castle, and have left the only tolerable rooms for offices. They had a gleam of Gothic in their eyes, but it soon passed off into some modern windows, and some that never were ancient. The only thing that at all recompensed the fatigues we have undergone was the picture of the Duchess of Buckingham348, la Ragotte, who is mentioned in Grammont-I say us, for I trust that Mr. Chute is as true a bigot to Grammont as I am. Adieu? I hope you will be as weary with reading our history as we have been in travelling it. Yours ever.
Note 347. A very ancient and magnificent structure, built throughout of stone, at different periods, formerly belonging to the family of Crovequer. In the fifteenth of Edward II Sir Thomas de Colepeper, who was castellan of the castle, was hanged on the drawbridge for having refused admittance to Isabel, the Queen-consort, in her progress in performing a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket at Canterbury. The manor and castle were forfeited to the crown by his attainder, but restored to his son, Sir Thomas Colepeper. By his Diary of May 8, 1666, it appears to have been hired by Evelyn for a prison. "Here," he says, "I flowed the dry moat, made a new drawbridge, brought spring-water into the court of the castle to an old fountain, and took order for the repairs."-E.
Note 348. Mary, Duchess of Buckingham, only daughter of Thomas, Lord Fairfax.-E.
Archaeologia Volume 35 1853 XXXIII. Oct 1357. About the middle of October — the actual date is lost by injury of the document - the Queen (age 62) set out from Hertford on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. She rested at Tottenham, London, Eltham, Dartford, and Rochester, in going or returning visited Leeds Castle [Map], and was again at Hertford at the beginning of November.
She gave alms to the nuns minoresses without Aldgate; to the rector of St. Edmund's in London, in whose parish her hostel was situated — it was in Lombard Street; and to the prisoners in Newgate.
Archaeologia Volume 35 1853 XXXIII. On the 4th of June [1358], Isabella (age 63) set out on a pilgrimage to Canterbury, and a visit of nearly three weeks' duration to Leeds Castle [Map]. She rested at Tottenham on the 4th, at London on the 5th and 6th, where she received the Countess of Warren (age 62) to dinner, and many noblemen after dinner. At Dartford on the 7th; at Rochester on the 8th, the Countess of Warren again dining with her. At Ospringe on the 9th, and at Canterbury on the 10th and 11th; entertaining there the Abbot of St. Augustine's both days. Under the division of "Alms" are recorded the Queen's oblations at the tomb of St. Thomas; the crown of his head ( the part having the tonsure, cut off by his assassins ), and point of the sword (with which he had been slain); and her payment to minstrels playing "in volta;" as also her oblations in the Church of St. Augustine, and her donations to various hospitals and religious houses in the city.
On 01 Mar 1378 John Devereux 1st Baron Devereux (age 41) was appointed Constable of Leeds Castle.
Before 11 Nov 1470 Ralph St Leger (age 40) was appointed Constable of Leeds Castle.
Around 1606 Katherine St Leger was born to Warham St Leger (age 26) at Leeds Castle, Kent [Map].
Evelyn's Diary. 17 Oct 1665. I went to Gravesend, Kent [Map]; next day to Chatham, Kent [Map]; thence to Maidstone, Kent [Map], in order to the march of 500 prisoners to Leeds Castle, Kent [Map], which I had hired of Lord Culpeper (age 39). I was earnestly desired by the learned Sir Roger Twysden (age 68), and Deputy-Lieutenants, to spare Maidstone from quartering any of my sick flock. Here, Sir Edward Brett (age 57) sent me some horse to bring up the rear. This country, from Rochester, Kent [Map] to Maidstone, Kent [Map] and the Downs, is very agreeable for the prospect.
Evelyn's Diary. 08 May 1666. Went to visit my cousin, Hales, at a sweetly-watered place at Chilston, near Bockton. The next morning, to Leeds Castle [Map], once a famous hold, now hired by me of my Lord Culpeper (age 40) for a prison. Here I flowed the dry moat, made a new drawbridge, brought spring water into the court of the Castle to an old fountain, and took order for the repairs.
Evelyn's Diary. 15 Nov 1666. To Leeds Castle, Kent [Map].
Evelyn's Diary. 24 Aug 1667. I was appointed, with the rest of my brother commissioners, to put in execution an order of Council for freeing the prisoners at war in my custody at Leeds Castle, Kent [Map], and taking off his Majesty's (age 37) extraordinary charge, having called before us the French and Dutch agents. The peace was now proclaimed, in the usual form, by the heralds-at-arms.
On 01 Nov 1831 Fiennes Wykeham-Martin Cornwallis was born to Charles Wykeham-Martin (age 30) and Jemima Isabella Mann at Leeds Castle, Kent [Map].
The River Len rises at Platts Heath, Kent [Map] after which it flows past Pollhill, Kent [Map], Chegworth, Kent [Map], to Leeds Castle, Kent [Map], where it forms the Great Water and moat, past Downswood, Kent [Map] to Maidstone, Kent [Map] where it joins the River Medway.