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Walmer (St. Mary)

WALMER (St. Mary), a parish, and a member of the cinque-port liberty of Sandwich, in the union of Eastry, locally in the hundred of Cornilo, lathe of St. Augustine, E. division of Kent, 2 miles (S.) from Deal; containing 2170 inhabitants. The parish comprises about 885 acres, of which 372 are arable, 272 meadow and pasture, 114 in homesteads and gardens, and 100 sea-beach. Walmer-street, which is situated on the road from Deal to Dovor, is interspersed with genteel houses and marine villas; and, partly on account of its convenient position as regards those two towns, is much frequented during the season for sea-bathing. It is noted for the salubrity of its air, and for the fine prospects in its vicinity, over the Downs and the straits of Dovor to the French coast; but chiefly for the celebrated fortress Walmer Castle, erected by Henry VIII. at the same period with those of Deal and Sandown, for the defence of the coast, and now appropriated to the lord warden of the cinque-ports, for whose residence the principal apartments were fitted up some years since, and the fosse was converted into a garden. Since this appropriation, many handsome marine villas have been erected in the vicinity, and an esplanade has been formed; bathing-machines are kept, and a complete establishment has been opened of hot, vapour, and shower baths, with reading-rooms and every accommodation for visiters. From the esplanade is a delightful promenade to Deal Castle (the principal part of which is in this parish), commanding a splendid view of the sea, with the shipping in the Downs. In the village is a large brewery and malting establishment.

The living is a perpetual curacy, endowed with the vicarial tithes; net income, £154; patron and appropriator, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church, which has been repaired, and the nave considerably enlarged, is entered on the west under a highly-enriched Norman arch; and there is a similar arch between the nave and chancel: in the burial ground are two remarkably fine yew-trees. Near the church is a deep fosse, with other vestiges of ancient intrenchments; and in the churchyard several stone coffins were discovered about 50 years since, supposed to have belonged to the Crowl family, of whom Sir Nicholas, in the reign of Edward I., erected a mansion in the village, of which there are still some remains. His late Majesty and the Queen Dowager, when Duke and Duchess of Clarence, resided at Walmer Castle in the summer of 1822; the Princess Amelia occupied for many years an old mansion in the village, and Her Majesty, Prince Albert, and the court, have resided at the castle for a short period.


Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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