Place Name
Walmer Castle, in Kent, was the country home of the Duke of Wellington. It was originally built in 1540 as part of Henry VIII’s coastal defences against the Spanish and French. In 1727 the Duke of Dorset made the castle an official residence as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and built a new apartment and a garden. And from 1829 the Duke of Wellington, hero of Waterloo, was made Lord Warden and used the castle as a summer residence, regularly using it to entertain friends and family and it was here he died suddenly in 1852. Gillian Bebbington in London Street Names writes that he was “such a productive source of street names for nineteenth-century builders that he almost came to rival the royal family in this respect”. Indeed, the A to Z Atlas of London listed more than 50 streets named after him, plus many more after his famous battles. Bebbington adds: “After Waterloo Wellington, like Churchill after the 2nd World War, lost a lot of support during an unsuccessful term as Tory Prime Minister, and there were violent demonstrations near Apsley House, his town home at Hyde Park Corner. However, also like Churchill, public respect for his military leadership remained undiminished, and streets and pubs named Apsley and Walmer, after his country residence of Walmer Castle in Kent, continued to appear through his declining years.”
