Allington Castle
Allington Castle near Maidstone in Kent is a restored medieval castle on the banks of the River Medway, the ancestral home of the Wyatt family and the birthplace in 1503 of Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder, the poet credited with introducing the sonnet form to English literature. The castle dates from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and was substantially rebuilt in the Tudor period by the Wyatt family. It was later acquired and carefully restored in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by Lord Conway of Allington, who transformed the ruinous building into a habitable and architecturally convincing medieval castle. The castle was subsequently used as a Carmelite friary for many decades before returning to private ownership. Set within attractive grounds beside the Medway with views across the river, Allington Castle provides a combination of medieval heritage, literary associations and Kent riverside scenery.