Chilham Castle Chilham Castle Chilham Castle is a manor house and keep in the village of Chilham, between Ashford and Canterbury in the county of Kent, England. The polygonal keep of the Norman Castle, the oldest building in the village, dates from 1174 and is still inhabited - making it perhaps one of the oldest dwellings in the UK. It was said to have been built for King Henry II. But archaeological excavations carried out in the 1920s suggest that it stands on the foundations of a much older Anglo-Saxon fortification, possibly dating from the seventh century. In June 1320, Chilham Castle
Lancaster Castle became more important during the English Civil War. The castle buildings are owned by the British sovereign as Duke of Lancaster, which leases part of the structure to Lancashire County Council who operate a Crown Court in part of the building. Until 2011, the majority of the buildings were leased to the Ministry of Justice as Her Majesty's Prison Lancaster. The Castle was returned to the Duchy's ownership by the Ministry of Justice in 2011. The Castle is now open to the public seven days a week and is undergoing a large-scale refurbishment to allow access to more areas. In