Day 192 - Cooling Castle is a 14th-century quadrangular castle in the village of Cooling, Kent. It was built in the 1380s by the Cobham family, the local lords of the manor, to guard the area against French raids into the Thames Estuary. The castle had an unusual layout as it comprised of two walled wards of unequal size next to each other, surrounded by moats and ditches. Gunpowder weapons used against the castle proved devastating and it was captured after only 8 hours when Sir Thomas Wyatt besieged it in January 1554 during his unsuccessful rebellion against Queen Mary. The attack wrecked the castle and it was subsequently abandoned, a century later a farmhouse and outbuildings were constructed among the ruins. Today the farmhouse is the home of the musician Jools Holland, while the nearby barn is used as a wedding venue. We inquired about using this beautiful barn for my daughter's wedding but unfortunatley it's booked until 2019.
