Reviews: Castles of Kent Through Time

Castles of Kent Through Time. By John Guy, (Amberley Publishing, 2023), 96 pp., 150+ b/w and colour photos and illustrations throughout. £15.99. ISBN 978 1 398110 87 8.

In Castles of Kent Through Time, John Guy provides a welcomed review of the long-standing history of Kent’s castles and presents a new approach to his previous systematic research on the topic. In doing so, his book invites the reader to question and challenge their preconceived perceptions of castles. For example, when visiting sites such as Rochester, the castle can often appear cold, or barren due to the castle’s ruinous appearance. In contrast, sites such as Leeds can appear grand or luxurious due to modern or present-day additions to the castle. Collectively, these perceptions do not account for the lived experience of the medieval people occupying these spaces. Additionally, these perceptions create a hierarchy of castles, suggesting greater social or economic importance was placed on certain sites while others were left to decay over time. Guy addresses these preconceived notions and explores an alternative way of presenting the castles of Kent. His approach highlights the ever-changing nature of these structures through illustration. The illustrative nature of this book is an interesting approach that demonstrates how our present-day notions of castles, in their current state, are often based on a snapshot of their historical and archaeological timeline. Through a collection of antique postcards, recent photographs, and antiquarian drawings and paintings of various sites, Guy provides pictorial representations of the fluid nature of castles. This is not an analytical book but rather one that highlights why sites might appear ruined or luxurious in their present state.

The structure of the book is laid out in a gazetteer manner, incorporating all sites from the medieval to modern that bear the title “castle.” In alphabetical order, readers can engage with a range of sites that might otherwise be inaccessible; in some cases, Kent castles are either seasonally open to visitors, privately owned or cater only to specific events such as weddings. With each entry, Guy provides a range of illustrative viewpoints of the castle in conjunction with a description of the site’s history. The accompanying text of each entry acts as a biography of the site, that provides an insight into how the castle, since its construction, has adapted to the changing political climates of Kent and the social needs of the various castle owners. For a book of this scale, it would be easy to fall into common research trends and solely focus on sites with copious amounts of historical and archaeological evidence, such as Dover Castle. Yet, explicitly structuring the book to illustrate how Kentish castles have changed over time is a refreshing addition to the field of castle studies. An example of the rationale behind this style is clearly highlighted in the entry on Saltwood Castle. In this entry, readers are introduced to the castle through a series of six images, a combination of photographs and antiquarian drawings, and a brief overview of the site’s main historical events. The text situates the castle in its medieval context in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, linking much of its early construction to the Archbishops of Canterbury. It then moves to Saltwood’s ties with Thomas Beckett before ending with the castle’s twentieth-century restoration by Lady Conway and Lord Clark. The images support the text by illustrating the castle as a partially ruinous and restored structure. The first two photographs reveal an aerial view of the castle that allows readers to [pg354]comprehend which areas have been restored and which remain in ruins. This is a useful visual aid as the castle is not regularly open to the public. The second photograph displays the remains of the hall where the knights supposedly plotted Beckett’s murder. The remainder of the illustrations highlight the restoration of the castle’s gatehouse, resembling that of West Gate in Canterbury. The pairing of the viewpoints in both the drawings and photographs allows for a seamless comparison between past and present architectural features. As a result, the reader is able to understand how and why the castle has changed over time.

Though this approach pairs well with Saltwood, there are some instances where the illustration and narrative approach does not entirely work. It is common for pictorial evidence of some castles, such as Chiddingstone and Sutton Valence, not to exist as they might have never been drawn, or perhaps they were demolished within a short period after their construction. Due to whichever scenario resulted in the nonexistence of pictorial evidence, the general approach of this book makes it difficult to highlight how the castle has changed over time. Instead, the reader is left with a short biography of the castle, which can be found in Guy’s earlier work titled Kent Castles. Additionally, castles were often slighted, and their building materials repurposed within a new structure or within a surrounding town. These acts often leave little of the remaining castle intact, resulting in the incorporation of the remains into a modern-styled building. In these instances, as seen in Cooling and Garlinge, the illustration approach is severely restricted to a single architectural feature. This restriction makes it difficult for the reader to assess architectural changes.

Nevertheless, with the exception of a few castles, Guy is able to illustrate how Kent’s castles have changed through time. This book is a useful tool for future research, as it provides a framework for further architectural and heritage studies. It is worth reading for anyone interested in castles, Kent, and a general history of both.

ALISON NORTON