Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
£15m castle sold to mystery buyer
Famous country home and estate was put on market after owner’s death
Kent’s finest country home and estate has been sold just four months after it was put on the market for more than £15 million - with the proceeds reportedly going to charity. A mystery buyer is forking out a huge sum for Chilham Castle, on the outskirts of Canterbury. The property has been sold following the death last year of owner Stuart Wheeler, a political activist and financier who earned his fortune as the founder of a spread betting firm. He died last July, leaving almost £29 million.
The Mail on Sunday previously reported that the proceeds of the sale would go to good causes, but these claims remain unconfirmed. However, Mr Wheeler’s will - which has been seen by the Gazette - does list five human rights charities as beneficiaries, alongside his three daughters. The Jacobean castle - built in 1616 - sits in 300 acres and boasts 14 bedrooms, along with an indoor swimming pool, two tennis courts, a card room, library, vineyard, and two additional cottages.
Mr Wheeler and his wife Tessa bought the run-down estate in 2002 and embarked on a meticulous but “cripplingly expensive” restoration project, with truly spectacular results. Mrs Wheeler died in 2016. Now, the Grade I-listed property has been snapped up, subject to contract, following what is said to be huge interest from a number of well-heeled prospective buyers.
Agent Knight Frank, which is selling the property, described the house and estate as “a truly magnificent property in a landscape of extraordinary beauty” and “one of the most beautiful houses and estates in the south east”.
But this week, it remained tight-lipped about the identity of the new owners. Parish councillor Dr Geoff Meaden hopes it will be someone who engages with the village. “Chilham Castle is such a dominant feature in the village and the Wheelers did an amazing job of restoring it,” he said.
“Of course, with a property like this there will always be rumours that it’s been bought by a rock star or some celebrity, but we just haven’t heard anything yet.
“But I think we would all rather hope that it’s not some distant Russian oligarch who will rarely be there and keep the gates locked.
“It would be nice if the estate remained part of the village and its life.”
Mrs Wheeler was a keen horse rider and developed the estate as a centre of equestrian excellence, and the couple also threw the grounds open for numerous village social and charity events, raising thousands for good causes.
A castle has stood on the site for more than 800 years, since 709 when Wihtred, King of Kent, built a fort there.
Over the centuries, it has been inhabited by kings including Saint Louis, King of France; King Edward I; King Edward II; and then lastly in 1539 when it was bought by King Henry VIII. King Henry granted the estate to Sir Thomas Cheney, who slowly dismantled it to build a home on the Isle of Sheppey. It was then sold to Sir Thomas Kempe, whose granddaughter Mary married Sir Dudley Digges, who ultimately triggered the journey of the current house which he built between 1612 and 1616.
Since then, 10 families have lived at Chilham Castle, all of whom have made their own alterations to the property. But it was Sir Edmund Davies, who bought the castle in 1918, who shaped much of what is seen today, employing internationally renowned architect Sir Herbert Baker to remove some of the Georgian and Victorian adaptations, making it more akin to the original house.
‘We would all rather hope that it’s not some distant Russian oligarch who will rarely be there and keep the gates locked’