Walmer Walmer, as a 'Limb' of Sandwich, Kent. Walmer Castle and its beautiful formal gardens are a major attraction for visitors. The official residence of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports since the 18th Century, the building is now an English Heritage property. Famous Lords Warden have included Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Sir Winston Churchill, William Pitt the Younger (whose niece Lady Hester Stanhope first created the gardens), and the Duke of Wellington (of the Battle of Waterloo fame). Wellington lived there for 23 years and the castle houses not only a collection of Wellington memorabilia but also the room
Cinque Ports an early concept that military service at sea constituted land tenure "per baroniam" making them "quasi" feudal barons. The early-14th-century treatise "Modus Tenendi Parliamentum" stated the Barons of the Cinque Ports to hold a place of precedence below the lay magnates (Lords Temporal) but above the representatives of the shires and boroughs (Knights of the Shire and burgesses). During the deposition of Edward II, the chronicles made a specific point of noting the presence of the Barons in the embassy of deposition - "praecipue de portubus...barones des Portez" ('especially the [Cinque] Ports...the barones of the Ports'). Writs of summons to