A short walk from the suggested parking in the village of Saltwood.
Sealtwde was the name of the village in Saxon times. Views of the privately-owned castle can be seen on the walk to the cache. The first castle was built in 488 on a site that had been used during Roman times. The castle was held by the Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of William the Conqueror, when the castle was replaced by a 12th century Norman structure.
Thomas Becket had asked King Henry II for the castle to be restored as an ecclesiastical palace, but his request was denied. Instead, Henry II awarded the castle to Baron Ranulf de Broc, who was with the four men who murdered Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170, although he did not take part in the murder. It is presumed that the four knights devised the plot in Saltwood Castle.
Following Becket's assassination, the castle returned to the control of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Henry Yevele, called the "English father of the science of artillery fortification", is said to be responsible for the gun ports in the gatehouse, which date from 1385-94.
The castle was rendered uninhabitable in 1580 by an earthquake but was restored in the 19th century, since when the tall gatehouse has been used as a residence.
During World War II, Herman Göring ordered the Luftwaffe not to bomb Hythe, as he had selected Saltwood to be his post-invasion home.
Suggested parking is close to the church of St Peter & St Paul. The earliest part of the church dates from between 1100 and 1150AD, and there is a cache at the church - Church Micro 1204...Saltwood. The gates to the parking area are open between 8.45am and 5.30pm but there is ample on-street parking nearby.
Another of our caches, Salteode - another historic name for the village of Saltwood - is nearby.
