Westenhanger Castle

The castle stayed in the family until the Wars of the Roses when Sir Thomas de Criol or Kyriell was beheaded the day after the Second Battle of St Albans by order of Queen Margaret of Anjou.

In 1588, under the ownership of Customer Smythe, Queen Elizabeth used the castle as the command centre for Kent's 14,000 troops who were to defend the south coast from the Spanish Armada.

Since the mid-1990s, the current owners have been working with English Heritage to consolidate the stonework and prevent further deterioration of the manor house, castle walls and associated buildings.

The younger Thomas commissioned the construction of Discovery for the East India Company in 1600 and, along with the Susan Constant and Godspeed, the ship sailed for Virginia on December 19, 1606, under captain John Smith, arriving on May 13 the following year.

As a result of this expedition, the first permanent English-speaking settlement in the New World was subsequently established at Jamestown, Virginia, forming a base for what would later become the United States of America.