Under William of Normandy, Saltwood, held by the Archbishop of Canterbury and let, under knights’ service, to Hugo de Montfort,[3] formed part of the string of large fiefs granted from Hythe to the New Forest, along the south coast of England.

[5] Thomas Becket had asked Henry II on behalf of the Church for the restoration of the castle as an ecclesiastical palace.

[6][7] It was during this time at Saltwood, on December 28, 1170, that four knights are presumed to have plotted the death of Becket, which took place the following day at Canterbury Cathedral, about 15 miles (24 km) away.

[9] A fourteenth-century chip-carved chest with arcading and rosettes along the front, with a later panelled top, formerly in the parish church, was reputed to have come originally from Saltwood Castle.

[10] The Wycliffite William Thorpe's account of his interrogation at Saltwood in 1407 is a familiar document because it was published by sixteenth-century Reformers.

It became uninhabitable as the result of the earthquake of 6 April 1580, but was restored in the nineteenth century, as a residence once again of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

In 1971–2, Lord Clark employed John King to construct a bungalow, The Garden House, at the edge of the moat, as a residence for him and his wife.