Lympne Castle

About the venue

Grade I listed castle above Romney Marsh near Hythe, first built in the 1080s for the Archdeacons of Canterbury. Exclusive-use weddings take 90 by day and 150 in the evening, with a chapel for 10. Guests stay in castle bedrooms or four estate cottages for 20, and eat at The Good Knight or the dog-friendly Naughty Dog.

Between 11 and 29 September 1978, Paul McCartney and Wings recorded Back to the Egg at Lympne Castle. By then the building was almost 900 years old. It was first raised in the 1080s for the Archdeacons of Canterbury, using stone from Portus Lemanis, the Roman fort whose ruins survive below as Stutfall Castle. The Great Hall and end towers were built in the 1360s.

Sir Robert Lorimer restored the castle between 1907 and 1912 and added the West Wing, and the East Wing followed in 1918. During the Second World War the army used it as an observation post over the Channel. The Mulholland family bought the Grade I listed castle in 2023. It looks out across Romney Marsh to the sea, about 1.5 hours from central London by the M20.

Ceremonies take place in the Great Hall, which is licensed for civil weddings, on the castle lawns or in a restored chapel that holds 10 including the couple. Wedding breakfasts and evening parties move into the West Wing. An exclusive-use wedding gives the couple the castle and grounds between 9am and midnight, for 90 guests by day and 150 in the evening.

All food is cooked in-house. The Good Knight is the medieval bar and restaurant, and Sunday roasts are served in the Great Hall. The Naughty Dog bistro opened in 2024 as a stop for passing dogs and only later agreed to feed their owners. Featured castle bedrooms include the Queens Room and The Kings Chamber, and four estate cottages sleep 20. Fireworks are banned because the animals of Port Lympne live next door.

First built in the 1080s, Grade I listed

Wings recorded here in 1978

Exclusive use, 9am to midnight

90 by day, 150 in the evening

Restored chapel for 10

The Good Knight medieval bar

Dog-friendly Naughty Dog bistro

Four cottages sleeping 20