Editing Hadlow Castle (section)

==History==
[[File:Hadlow Castle Gatehouse 2020.JPG|thumb|left|Entrance Arch, High Street, restored in May 2020. {{coord|51.2235|0.3379|display=inline|region:GB|format=dms}}]]
Hadlow Castle replaced the manor house of Hadlow Court Lodge. It was built over a number of years from the late 1780s, commissioned by Walter May in an ornate [[Victorian Gothic|Gothic]] style. The architect was  J. Dugdale.<ref name=Heritage>{{cite web |url=http://lh.matthewbeckett.com/houses/lh_kent_hadlowcastle.html |title=Hadlow Castle |publisher=Lost Heritage |access-date=25 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120522025105/http://lh.matthewbeckett.com/houses/lh_kent_hadlowcastle.html |archive-date=22 May 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> His son, [[Walter Barton May]] inherited the estate in 1823, and another inheritance in 1832 from his wife's family. He added a {{Cvt|175|ft|order=flip}} octagonal tower in 1838, the architect was [[George Ledwell Taylor]]. A {{convert|40|ft|m}} octagonal lantern was added in 1840 and another smaller tower was added in 1852. This was dismantled in 1905. Walter Barton May died in 1858 and the estate was sold. Subsequent owners were Robert Rodger, JP, [[High Sheriff of Kent]], in 1865. He died in 1882 and his son, Willim Wallace Rodger-Cunliffe died in 1888. In 1900 the castle was sold to Benjamin Scott Foster MacGeagh, a retired trader and entrepreneur. MacGeagh became J.P. in Kent and its High Sheriff and died in 1907. The Castle, its estate and the manors of Hadlow and East Peckham then passed to his son, Dr. Thomas Edwin Foster MacGeagh, a Harley Street practitioner Dr. MacGeagh would drive in his carriage to Tonbridge and catch the train to [[London]] thus being an early [[commuter]]. However, T.E.F. MacGeagh sold the estate in 1919 to Henry Thomas Pearson, whose farming family occupied it until 1946.<ref name=Castle/> During the [[Second World War]] it was used as a watchtower by the [[Home Guard (United Kingdom)|Home Guard]] and [[Royal Observer Corps]].<ref name=Telegraph220516/> The unoccupied castle changed hands several times after the Pearsons left, and was demolished in 1951,<ref name=Castle>Hadlow Castle</ref> except for the servants' quarters, several stables and the Coach House, which were saved by the painter [[Bernard Hailstone]]. The Tower was already a Listed Building, having been listed on 17 April 1951.<ref name="British Listed Buildings">{{cite web|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-179520-hadlow-tower-hadlow-castle-hadlow-kent
 |title=Hadlow Tower |publisher=British Listed Buildings |access-date=10 Feb 2013}}</ref> Now the entrance gateway and lodges of the Castle still stand - a heavy Gothic presence on the street - as does the Stable Court with two turreted pavilions, which are all in private ownerships, and new homes have been built in the grounds.