New Castle County, Delaware state by area. It has more people than the other two counties, Kent and Sussex, combined. It is also the most economically developed of the three. Matt Meyer was elected New Castle County Executive in 2016. New Castle County is home to two minor league sports teams: the Wilmington Blue Rocks (baseball) and the Delaware Blue Coats (basketball) which also plays in Wilmington. It also has a professional auto racing track in New Castle known as Airport Speedway, which races on Saturday nights throughout the summer. The first permanent European settlement on Delaware soil was Fort Christina, resulting from Peter
Chilham Castle was the venue for a splendid reception hosted by Bartholomew de Badlesmere for Edward II and his entourage when they were travelling to Dover en route for France. The Jacobean building, within sight of the "Old Castle" (the keep), was completed in 1616 for Sir Dudley Digges on a hexagonal plan, with five angled ranges and the sixth left open. It has battlemented parapets, clustered facetted columnar brick chimneys and corner towers with squared ogee cappings. The Victorian tradition that this bold but vernacular house was designed by Inigo Jones is not credited by architectural historians. Indeed, Nicholas Stone, a