Scotney Castle, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

In 1377 French ships raided the Sussex coast, causing widespread damage and panic among the local population. Roger de Ashburnham, Conservator of the Peace in Kent and Sussex, decided to build a castle to guard against the threat of further invasions.He chose a site on the River Bewl, at the bottom of a wooded valley just south of Lamberhurst, and there he built a quadrangular castle on a pair of islands, surrounded by a wide moat. Only one of the original four towers still stands, topped with a later conical roof and bristling with machicolations.The south tower we see today was recorded as the only tower standing in 1558. The tower is connected to a later Elizabethan manor house, built by the Darrell family. Thomas Darrell owned the castle in the late 16th century, at a time when Catholicism was illegal. #castle #unitedkingdom