Walmer

"WALMER, a parish in the hundred of Cornilo, lathe of St. Augustine, county Kent, and about 7 miles from Dover. It is a bathing place and coast-guard station adjoining Deal on the Dover road, and contains many villas and a large number of comfortable lodgings. The season lasts from the middle of July to the end of October. Some time back it was a non-corporate member of the port of Sandwich, but was incorporated with Deal in 1699. In the village are baths, reading rooms, a large brewery and malting establishment, and an esplanade. It was anciently held by the D'Aubervilles and Crowl, or Kereill, families, traces of whose ancient house still exist. Near the seashore stands Walmer Castle, the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. It was originally built by Henry VIII. in 1539, as a fortress for the defence of the coast, and was restored by Pitt when lord warden. Since the appropriation of the castle as a mansion for the lord warden it has undergone considerable alterations, and the fosse been converted into a garden. The late Duke of Wellington frequently resided in the castle, and died there in 1852. The extensive building known as the Royal Naval and Military Hospital, which formerly served as a coast-guard station, is now converted into a barrack for marines. The parish of Walmer consists of two parts, Upper and Lower Walmer, and contained in 1861 a population of 3,275. The living is a vicarage with the curacy of St. Saviour's annexed, in the diocese of Canterbury, value £240, in the patronage of the archbishop. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, has an ivy covered tower, and a Norman arch, and in the churchyard are two yew trees. The chapel-of-ease of St. Saviour's, in Lower Walmer, was consecrated, in July, 1849, by Archbishop Sumner. The parochial charities produce about £1 10s. per annum. There is a National school, built in 1857, and supported by voluntary contributions, for boys, girls, and infants. There is also a military chapel school attached to the barracks, where service is performed for the troops on Sunday, and which is used as a school during the week. Near the church are a deep fosse, and other traces of ancient entrenchments supposed to be of Roman formation."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2010]