Chilham Castle, Canterbury, England

The house is Jacobean with a garden of essentially formal character, having terraces, walks, a rose garden and specimen trees. Examples include holm oak (Quercus ilex) on the front lawn and avenues of sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) and limes. There is also a more remote, relatively wild informal area with a lake, rock and water gardens.

Capability Brown was called in in 1760. His visit was brief but he was thought to have advised on the siting of the lake, landscaping of the park and the introduction of the ha-ha.

There have been Victorian and Edwardian additions, mainly the rock garden and wild garden.

Major restoration work took place from 1918-30.

Recent research by Brian Thomas (the Managing Agent) indicates that Brown did not apparently make the lake as was always supposed. The date of the lake seems to be in the 1920s.

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. 

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

A Norman castle was established at Chilham in the 11th century and completed in the late 12th century. It passed through the hands of several owners until acquired in the early 17th century, through marriage, by Sir Dudley Digges who built the present, adjacent house and employed John Tradescant the Elder (died 1637) to lay out the gardens (guidebook). After Digges' death in 1638 the property remained in the family until sold in 1724 to James Colebrook who enlarged the park to both the south-west and north-east. Colebrook's son sold the estate in 1724 to Thomas Heron who engaged Lancelot Brown (1716-83) to improve the park. Just before Heron's death in 1794 the estate was acquired by James Wildman; his son, James Beckford Wildman, succeeded in 1816, rebuilding some of the terraces removed in Brown's improvements before selling the estate in 1861 to Charles Hardy. In 1867 he was succeeded by his son, Charles Stewart Hardy who built the stables and constructed the lake. He died in 1914 and in 1918 Chilham Castle became the property of Sir Edmund Davis who employed Sir Herbert Baker to restore the house and formal gardens. After Sir Edmund's death, the estate was owned for five years by Mr Somerset de Chair and, from 1949 until its sale in 1997, by Viscount Massereene and Ferrard. The estate remains (1997) in private hands.