Summer Visit – Herstmonceux Castle – 9 September 2026
On 9th September 26 members visited Herstmonceux Castle, our postponed summer outing, and this time the weather was perfect. Herstmonceux is one of the oldest brick buildings in Britain, built by Roger Fiennes in 1441. Before that in the 12th century, a manor house on the site was occupied by a lady called Idonea de Herst, who married a Norman nobleman named Ingelram de Monceux – hence Herstmonceux. So how does a historic English castle come to be owned by a Canadian University? It’s a long story…..
Sir Roger Fiennes a descendant of the Monceaux family was Treasurer of the Household of Henry VI, so needed a large house. It was one of the first brick buildings in England, built using bricks made from local clay by builders from Flanders. A century later the estate was confiscated by Henry VIII but later returned to the Fiennes family. Later the 15th Baron Dacre, heir to the Fiennes family, was forced to sell in 1708 to George Naylor, a London lawyer, to pay off gambling debts. Somewhat later a descendant, Robert Hare-Naylor, was persuaded by his second wife to demolish most of the interior to turn it into a “picturesque ruin”. It remained a ruin and passed through various hands until 1913 when Colonel Claude Lowther purchased it and transformed the ruined building back into a residence. Then in 1946 the Admiralty bought it as a new site for the Royal Observatory which needed to move from Greenwich due to light pollution. It was convenient that the castle lies on the Greenwich meridian! The telescopes remain but are not used. Finally in 1993 it was purchased by Drs. Alfred and Isabel Bader. Bader was an Austrian Jew who came to England via the Kindertransport scheme in 1938 then in 1940 was sent to a Canadian Internment Camp. After being rejected by several universities who had a “Jewish Quota” he studied chemistry at Queens University in Kingston Ontario. He was very successful, founded a specialist chemicals company, and became very wealthy. On a visit to England he saw the castle was for sale, bought it and gave it to his alma mater Queens University. It is now called Bader College and Canadian students came and stay there for a year or a term. The house is well worth a visit with beautiful gardens and the observatory is also open separately at weekends..