Qualla: Chiddingstone Castle

Chiddingstone Castle: Introduction

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Serrity, CC BY-SA 4.0. Denys Eyre Bower was a bank clerk who became one of England's most idiosyncratic collectors. He filled Chiddingstone Castle with Japanese lacquer, Ancient Egyptian ushabtis, Stuart and Jacobite portraits, and Buddhist thangkas - four collections that together reflect a man who followed his interests wherever they led. He bought the castle in 1955 to display them. In 1957 he was convicted of the attempted murder of his mistress, whom he shot, and of attempted suicide; he was sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1962, after a solicitor named Ruth Eldridge worked to expose what she argued was a miscarriage of justice, he was released. He returned to Chiddingstone, where he continued opening the castle to visitors until his death in 1977. The collection - and the castle - now belongs to the nation.

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Image: Serrity | CC BY-SA 4.0

Chiddingstone Castle: Four Centuries of the Streatfeild Family

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nigel Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0. The site has been occupied since the early 16th century, when an ironmaster and wool merchant named Richard Streatfeild built a timber-framed house here. In 1679 Henry Streatfeild rebuilt the structure in red brick in the Restoration style and named it High Street House - it then...

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Image: Nigel Chadwick | CC BY-SA 2.0

Chiddingstone Castle: Canadian Soldiers and a Boarding School

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nigel Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0. Lord Astor never moved in. The Second World War brought members of the Canadian Forces to the castle as part of the substantial Canadian military presence in southeast England preparing for D-Day. After the war the building was used as Long Dene School, an independent boarding sc...

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Image: Nigel Chadwick | CC BY-SA 2.0

Chiddingstone Castle: The Shooting and the Solicitor

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Oxenhillshaw (talk), Public domain. In 1957, two years after he moved in, Bower shot his mistress at Chiddingstone Castle and then attempted to take his own life. Both survived. He was convicted of attempted murder and attempted suicide and sentenced to life imprisonment. The case was not straightforward. A solicit...

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Image: Oxenhillshaw (talk) | Public domain

Chiddingstone Castle: Four Collections

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Marathon, CC BY-SA 2.0. Bower's Japanese collection focuses on lacquerware - considered among the most important in any private hands - and includes Japanese swords, samurai armour, and haniwa terracotta figures. His Ancient Egyptian holdings cover the full span of the civilisation, from grave goods suc...

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Image: Marathon | CC BY-SA 2.0

Chiddingstone Castle: Bower's Bequest

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nigel Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0. Bower left the castle and his collections to the nation in 1977. The Denys Eyre Bower Bequest, the trust that took over the property, continues to care for both, opening the castle to visitors and providing a venue for weddings. Current trustees include descendants of the Streatf...

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Image: Nigel Chadwick | CC BY-SA 2.0