Whitstable Castle and Gardens
By Whitstable
W
hitstable Castle isn’t a castle at all, really — it’s an elegant former manor house, wrapped in beautiful gardens that look out towards the sea, and today it’s one of the loveliest free places to spend an afternoon in the town. Its story is a remarkable one: it began, of all things, as a chemical works, passed through the hands of a copperas magnate and a silk millionaire, and is now a community treasure. Here’s how it came to be.
From copperas works to country house
The Castle stands on the site of one of Whitstable’s old copperas works — the coastal chemical industry that, for two centuries, gathered “copperas stones” from the shore to make green vitriol for dyes and ink. By the late eighteenth century the trade was fading, and it’s from its remains that the Castle grew.
In 1780, Charles Pearson — a London haberdasher and ambitious copperas producer — married Elizabeth Radford, who already owned three-and-a-half copperas works of her own; it may well have been the shared business that brought them together. Pearson went on to control much of the Kent and Essex copperas trade, and around 1790, following the fashionable pull of the seaside, he built a summer residence for his family on the hill above the works: a Gothic, octagonal tower they called Tankerton Tower. That tower is the core of the Castle you see today. In the spirit of make-do, it was raised using stone from the old copperas works — and if you look closely at the walls, you can still see the black tar of the industry that came before.
In 1791 Pearson bought the manorial title too, setting himself up as a country gentleman. His family enlarged the house over the following decades, and — always a man with an eye for an opportunity — Charles Pearson was among those who helped launch the pioneering Canterbury and Whitstable Railway, the “Crab and Winkle” line.
Wynn Ellis — the silk millionaire
Charles Pearson died in 1828, and the estate passed to his son. Beset by financial troubles, the younger Pearson eventually sold the tower and lands, around 1836, to a relative by marriage — and one of the most colourful figures ever to live here: Wynn Ellis.
Born in 1790, the son of a coachman, Ellis rose to build the largest silk business in London, became a Member of Parliament, a noted art collector and a considerable philanthropist. He made the greatest mark of any owner on the Castle and its grounds: he extended the house with a new west wing and a bell tower, and laid out much of the garden — the terraces, the walled kitchen garden, an ice house and summerhouses. He was, by repute, leading a double life: while his wife lived in London, he is said to have bought and kept the house for a mistress. His generosity to the town outlived him — the Wynn Ellis Almshouses, just past the Castle gatehouse, were built from his charitable bequest, and he is buried at All Saints Church in Whitstable.
From Tankerton Tower to Whitstable Castle
The building’s name changed as it grew grander. What began as Tankerton Tower became Tankerton Castle (or Towers), and finally Whitstable Castle — the name it carries today. After Ellis, it passed through several private hands until Whitstable Urban District Council bought it for the town in 1935, and the gardens were opened to the public.
A community treasure, restored
By the early 2000s the Castle needed rescuing, and the town rose to it. A charity, the Whitstable Castle Trust, was formed to take on the whole site, and in 2008 — backed by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of over £2 million, with support from Canterbury City Council — the Castle closed for a major restoration. It reopened transformed: the building repaired, the gardens beautifully relandscaped, access improved throughout. Today the Castle and Gardens are run by the Trust, a charitable body of local volunteers and councillors, for the benefit of the town — and it shows, in a park cared for without the faintest whiff of municipal compromise.
Visiting
The gardens are free and open to all — terraced lawns, a scented rose garden, herbaceous borders and views out towards the Thames Estuary. The Orangery Tea Rooms serve hot food, sandwiches and famously good cream teas. The Castle hosts a full calendar of events through the year, from May Day celebrations to open-air theatre and antiques fairs, and it’s one of Whitstable’s most popular venues for weddings and celebrations. It’s an easy, lovely walk up from the Tankerton seafront — and one of the best-kept, most welcoming spots in the town.
If you have a memory or an old photograph of the Castle, we’d love to hear.