Sutton Valence Castle, Near Maidstone Kent, England - Castles are Amazing!

Castles are amazing,

This castle is great because of its incredible position and despite having been abandoned for nearly 700 years there are still some ruins remaining of what was probably a massive complex.

I aim to visit and make short videos on many castles across the country in addition to my regular ones, so please like, subscribe and click the alerts bell for future releases.

Be sure to stay to the end to hear all the details

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This is Sutton Valence Castle, Sutton Valence, near Maidstone Kent, England.

It is a Grade II listed building and a scheduled monument.

The actual date of construction is not known but it was probably around 1200 or a little before.

To access the castle by car, park in the village and then walk up the hill following the signs. This is the view at the top!

This is what you see from the road when arriving at the entrance to the castle and even though this is the ruined keep you can get a great idea of the power this site would have commanded.

This castle, which sits on a spur in the Weald of Kent, dominated the important mediaeval trade route between Maidstone and Winchelsea, near the key Kent harbours including Rye.

The castle was probably built in the late 1100s. During its time in use in 1238 it came into the hands of Simon De Montford, Earl of Leicester ,

An interesting fact - The De Montfort University In Leicester is named after him!


Sources
English Heritage
Historic England

Includes:
Medieval Castle remains
Picturesque ruin
Romantic ruin
Running up mound, running up motte
Ragstone, Flint
Stone robbing
Room cut in keep wall
No record of military action
Weald of Kent
Medieval Trade Route
Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester
Battle of Evesham 1265
De Montfort University
Leicester Clocktower
Barons' opposition to Henry III
King John
Steps towards Parliamentary democracy
William de Valence
Travel Tips
Parking

Google maps