Deal Castle Walmer Castle Deal Kent History Tourism

Deal Maritime Museum, Cinque Port History & Festivals

Once you start digging into the maritime history and importance of both Deal and Sandwich as ports in the past, before the age of power driven boats, you begin to realise just why these ports developed as such important centres. In the age of wind, tide and sail power the stretch of water just off Deal and Sandwich was one of the busiest anchorage points in the world. The reason is quite simple - winds that brought ships up the Channel past South Foreland would not always take vessels on and round the North Foreland stretch. Ships then had no choice but to anchor here at Deal awaiting favourable winds and Lower Deal grew up to serve the increasing volume of shipping.

From the mid-15th century, after the silting up of the Stour Estuary had long closed the Wantsum Channel, the favoured inland crossing route of the Romans, Deal really began to take off as an anchorage point for ships awaiting the favourable winds to take them up and round North Foreland. Further, the construction by orders of Henry VIII of Deal, Walmer and Sandown Castles made the Downs waters a particularly safe and well defended anchorage. Supplying the anchored ships at Deal meant benefit to numerous local businesses, particularly agriculture. Deal port had as much prominence as Portsmouth and Rochester by 1600, with nearby Sandwich port seeing a corresponding decline.

Only with the coming of steam powered vessels did Deal's importance as a port and anchorage begin to decline. The emphasis then shifted to making Deal a seaside resort hotspot, which shifted again to military organisation during the Napoleonic Wars and later during the Second World War. A complete and superb history of Deal, this most famous port and military barracks town, can be found on the Deal Maritime and Local History webguide right. The museum is housed in an old factory building used by the Dover inventor and builder Willard Sawyer. The impressive main maritime gallery explores the history of Deal boatman with everything from figureheads to relics and wreckage artefacts from shipwrecks occurring in the Goodwin Sands area on show.

The Deal Maritime Folk Festival takes place annually every September. Its been running since 2003, building up an impressive line-up of folk performers and followers. Check the Folk Festival's webguide right for forthcoming festival line-up. Deal Maritime & Local History Museum, 22 St. George's Road, Deal, Kent. Tel. 01304 381344.

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Deal Castle & Walmer Castle & Gardens

Henry VIII's two Castles, Deal Castle and Walmer Castle, built specifically to defend and service the important anchorage site at Deal are impressive Kent castles. In his capacity as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports the Duke of Wellington spent 23 years at Walmer Castle and you can view many of his personal items and rooms inside Walmer. A superb way of visiting both castles is via the connecting cycle path running along the beachfront.

Both castles are administered by English Heritage (see webguide right). Built quickly between 1539 and 1542, Deal is a Tudor artillery castle with a distinctive series of flat low lying round turrets - built that way to deflect incoming cannon balls. It was Deal Castle that served as major defense for the Downs waters. Inside you can tour the battlements, passages and vast basement plus on-site 'The Story of Deal Castle' exhibition. Deal Castle is open from April to September, 10am to 6pm daily except Saturday when it closes at 5pm.

Built in a similar style to Deal Castle, Walmer also has the distinctive flat turrets. However, Walmer Castle saw extensive development after its original build. It was the main residence for Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports from 1708, with Wellington in the role making his mark on Walmer. Items like Wellington's armchair are still here on show at Walmer as are a pair of his famous Wellington Boots! Other famous Lord Wardens to have stayed here include William Pitt. Another feature, courtesy of Lady Hester Stanhope, making Walmer slightly different from Deal, is the spectacular gardens including themed wildlife gardens, a kitchen garden, croquet lawn and a woodland walk. A tearoom is also on-site. For more details on both Deal and Walmer Castles and opening times check the English Heritage weblink right. The Lord Warden is still sometimes in residence at Walmer, usualy during July for a few days. Walmer is closed whilst the warden is in residence.

Deal Castle, Deal Castle Road, Deal, Kent CT41 7BA. Tel. 01304 372762. (situated just to the south of the town centre adjacent to the beach and promenade). Walmer Castle & Gardens, Kingsdown Road, Walmer, Kent. Tel: 01304 364288.

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Deal Timeball Tower Museum

Overlooking the seafront in Deal, just north of the castle, is the rather quirky Deal Timeball Tower Museum. The main feature is the striking ball on the tower's roof top, which begins to rise half way up the pole at five before every hour from 9am to 5pm (although originally it was once a day at 1pm). The ball pushes further up at two minutes to the hour, then on the hour drops down. The whole thing is triggered by an electric message from Grenwich - so the time is totally accurate and was used by ships out at sea to check timing. How this works has changed over the years (read more via the Time Tower Museum's webguide linked right).

Timeball Toweer Museum, Prince of Wales Terrace, Deal, Kent, CT14 7BP. Tel. 01304 360897.

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Deal Pier

The Deal Pier you see today is the third pier built on the site. The history of all three Deal Piers is a fascinating one. The second pier was ramed and destroyed in 1940 when the Dutch Vessel, the Nora, which had been damaged by a drifting magnetic mine was towed onto Deal's beach near the pier. Despite warnings of the danger of leaving the vessel partly submerged on the beach by local fishermen nothing was done to remove it, so as the tide rose the Nora drifted towards the pier, finally smashing and destroying it. Winston Churchill visited to survey the wreckage, which was eventually cleared with the army's consent to give a clear line of fire for coastal guns.

The third Deal Pier, now standing, dates from the post-war period (1954) and was built with strong local support. Fishing is still popular on Deal Pier and recent work is seeing restoration of both the Pier Cafe and the 1919 Cabin. See Deal Pier's webguide for the latest news and fishing prices.

Rather unusually, Deal Pier was actually the only pier to be built after 1910, such was the enthusiasm by local residents for the build.

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