Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports was combined from 1267 with the office of Constable of Dover Castle. However, from 1708 Walmer Castle at Deal was to be preferred as the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. The Lord Warden also holds the office of Admiral of the Cinque Ports with a maritime jurisdiction extending to the middle of the English Channel, from Redcliffe near Seaford, in Sussex to the shore underneath the Naze Tower, encompassing Brightlingsea in Essex, the only Cinque Port north of the Thames. In earlier centuries the northern limit was taken as the Shoe Beacon in Essex. The
Allington Castle a bend in the River Medway about north of Maidstone. The fortification was subsequently expanded but as it was an unauthorised adulterine castle, its demolition was ordered in 1174 during the reign of Henry II. It was replaced with a small unfortified manor house. The present castle was built between 1279–99 by Stephen de Pencester, the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, who was granted a licence to crenellate the existing manor house by Edward I. It was inherited by Penchester's daughter and passed via marriage to the Cobham family, who owned it until 1492. The building's development was continued