Замок Херстмонсо: История и Реставрация

Herstmonceux Castle is a brick built castle, dating from the 15th century, near Herstmonceux, East Sussex, England. It is one of the oldest significant brick buildings still standing in England. The castle was renowned for being one of the first buildings to use that material in England, and was built using bricks taken from the local clay, by builders from Flanders. It dates from 1441. Construction began under the then owner, Sir Roger Fiennes, and was continued after his death in 1449 by his son, Lord Dacre. The parks and gardens of Herstmonceux Castle and Place are Grade II* listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. and the Grade II* listed telescopes and workshops of the Herstmonceux Science Centre.

The first written evidence of the existence of the Herst settlement appears in William the Conqueror's Domesday Book of 1086, which reports that one of William's closest supporters granted tenancy of the manor at Herst to a man named 'Wilbert'. In 1541, Sir Thomas Fiennes, Lord Dacre, was tried for murder and robbery of the King's deer after his poaching exploits on a neighboring estate resulted in the death of a gamekeeper. He was convicted and hanged as a commoner, and the Herstmonceux estate was temporarily confiscated by Henry VIII of England, but was restored to the Fiennes family during the reign of one of Henry's children. The profligacy of the 15th Baron Dacre, heir to the Fiennes family, forced him to sell in 1708 to George Naylor, a lawyer of Lincoln's Inn in London. Bethaia Naylor, who became the heiress of Herstmonceux on the death of her brother's only daughter, married Francis Hare and produced a son, Francis, who inherited in turn, his mother's property. The castle eventually came into the possession of Robert Hare Naylor, who, upon the insistence of his second wife, Henrietta Henckell, followed the architect Samuel Wyatt's advice to reduce the Castle to a picturesque ruin by demolishing the interior. Thomas Lennard, 17th Baron Dacre, was sufficiently exercised as to commission James Lambert of Lewes to record the building in 1776. The castle was dismantled in 1777 leaving the exterior walls standing and remained a ruin until the early 20th century.

Radical restoration work was undertaken by Colonel Claude Lowther in 1913 to transform the ruined building into a residence and, based on a design by the architect, Walter Godfrey, this work was completed by Sir Paul Latham in 1933. The existing interiors largely date from that period, incorporating architectural antiques from England and France. The one major change in planning was the combination of the four internal courtyards into one large one. The restoration work, regarded as the apex of Godfrey's architectural achievement, was described by the critic Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as executed 'exemplarily'.

The Royal Observatory was founded by King Charles II at Greenwich in 1675. Observing conditions at Greenwich deteriorated following the urban growth of London, and plans were made in the early 20th century to relocate the observatory to a rural location with clearer, darker skies. Herstmonceux Castle and estate were put up for sale by their private owners and were sold in 1946 to the Admiralty, which then operated the Royal Observatory on behalf of the British government. The relocation of the observatory took place over a decade, and was complete by 1957. A number of new buildings were erected in the castle grounds. The institution at Herstmonceux Castle was known as the Royal Greenwich Observatory, where it remained until 1988, when the observatory relocated to Cambridge. Several of the telescopes remain but the largest telescope, the 100 inch (254 cm) aperture Isaac Newton Telescope was moved to La Palma, in the Canary Islands, in the 1970s. The estate provides housing for the Equatorial Telescope Buildings, which have been converted for use as an interactive science centre for schoolchildren. The empty dome for the Newton Telescope remains on this site and is a landmark, visible from afar.

In 1992 Alfred Bader, an alumnus of Queen's University at Kingston, learned of the castle's vacancy and offered to purchase the castle for his wife; she declined, joking that there would be "too many rooms to clean". But in 1994, after intensive renovations, the Queen's International Study Centre was opened. It hosts primarily undergraduate students studying arts, science, or commerce through the Canadian University Study Abroad Program (CUSAP), as well as graduate students studying Public International Law or International Business Law. Specialty summer programmes (May–June) including engineering (Global Project Management), archaeology, international health sciences, and law have become popular in recent years with students from both Queen's and other universities. In late January 2009, the ISC was renamed the Bader International Study Centre. As part of the 25th anniversary celebrations, new science and innovation labs were opened on the campus to increase the ability for first year science tracked students to attend. In 2022, the Bader International Study Centre was renamed Bader College. On 13 November 2023, in response to engineering investigations, the university suspended operations at Bader College and future admissions to Bader College programs until structural remediation activities can be completed. It is expected that these activities will take at least 18 months, with the scope of works required still under investigation.

Herstmonceux Castle is associated with a retinue of historical re enactment troops including archers, knights, and falconers, who fly their birds over the grounds. and is also hired out for weddings and weekend events.

The castle was used for filming part of The Silver Chair, a 1990 BBC adaptation of the book (one of The Chronicles of Narnia) by C. S. Lewis. The castle and gardens were used by comedians Reeves and Mortimer for one of their Mulligan and O'Hare sketches. In August 2002, The Coca Cola Company rented the castle for use as part of a prize in a Harry Potter themed sweepstakes—the castle served as "Hogwarts" in a day of Harry Potter related activities for the sweepstakes winners. A "painting" of the castle was used as a magical cursed object in the U. S. television show Charmed – episode 2.3 "The Painted World".