Sir Dudley Digges

Sir Dudley Digges in Residence on Audubon Street

My dad's name is Dudley Digges Morgan, III.  Dudley Digges isn't just one of those names you find in a name book or happen upon when walking down the street (like the name Taylor).  This name is rooted deeply in my family history, and it dates back to a British Member of Parliament in the 1600's and later a "Virginia Adventurer," an investor who ventured his capital in the Virginia Company of London, Sir Dudley Digges.  My dad is a true lover of history and genealogy, two interests he has passed along to me.  Thus, Sir Dudley Digges and his manor home, Chilham Castle, have been a large part of dinner table conversations for most of my life.  Needless to say, when the Morgan family decided to make a pilgrimage to the United Kingdom, a trip to Chilham Caste was indeed included on the itinerary, even if it only was to peer through the gates of the Castle through the town square. 

Well, I should have known better, but for months, my mother was scheming behind my father's back trying to find a way to get him inside the castle. My mom is great at surprises, and somehow, on a whim and a prayer, she always manages to pull them off. And, this task of getting her family in to the castle, she seemed to meet with much ease.

So you may ask, how did we get in to the castle that is privately owned by a lovely British family?  This is a side story indeed worth telling, due in large part that it is another example of my dad's deep love for history and our ancestral roots.  My mother serves on the board of the Stratford Hall, home of the Lees of Virginia and the birthplace of Robert E. Lee (a.k.a the place where Alexander and Ashby fell in love!).  She assumed this position as a result of my grandmother Rosalind "RaRa" Morgan who served on the board over 50 years ago, and a friendship my mother made with Kathy Hendricks, while her son Nat and I attended college together at Sewanee.   

Stratford Hall is located on the Northern Neck of Virginia, and its Board of Directors represents the the fifty United States and the United Kingdom (we must not forget our roots when preserving our history!).  The United Kingdom representative, Liz Vyvyan, is actively involved in historic preservation in both the States and the United Kingdom, and therefore my mother asked her if, by chance, she knew the owners of Chilham Castle.  It just so happened that she did.  Indeed, a small world it is, thanks to Mrs. Vyvyan!  So, while my father was emailing chilhamcastleinfo@gmail.com begging for the right to enter beyond the gates, my mother exchanged a few emails with the Lady of the Manor, and we were in.  In, not just beyond the gates, but in for lunch and a tour with the Wheeler family, the current owners of the Castle. 

Getting to the Castle was the only kink in my mother's plan.  We stayed a bit too far from the Castle the night before, and we got lost on the British highways.  You could have cut the tension in the car with a knife.  My mother was furious, plain furious, that we were running late to Chilham, and my dad thought she was just mad for the umpteenth time about him not getting the GPS in the car.  Little did he know...

Driving in to Chilham Square

When we finally arrived in the town of Chilham, my mother told my father to drive on up to the gates of the Castle that she, herself, was going to find a way to get us inside.  She told my dad to ring the door bell to which he replied, "Lynn, I am not ringing the doorbell."  I was ready to get out of that car, so I marched right up to the buzzer, rang the bell, and exclaimed it was the Morgan family.  The gates magically opened, and my father's jaw dropped. 

And the Gates to the Castle opened for DDM, III

Tessa Wheeler, the Lady of the Manor, greeted us outside of her home.  We were terribly late, so she ushered us in to the drawing room to meet her weekend guests that were anxiously awaiting to meet the Manor's ancestral guests.  It is customary in the Wheeler household to invite a cross-section of guests to the Manor home each weekend.  The current owner, Stuart Wheeler, remarked that when he was young he was invited to a weekend estate with a diverse array of people, each with a different story to tell, that it made a lasting impression on him and he hoped to be able to recreate it for his friends one day. 

After a few Pimms and story exchanges with the guests (one of which will likely compete in the 2012 Olympics in London), we were invited in to the stately dining room.  Tessa Wheeler had a beautiful old book where she recorded her seating arrangements for each meal, and after reviewing the assignments, she directed us to our chair for the dinner.  The perimeter of the dining room had a stunning banner of the family crests of each inhabitant of Chilham Castle.  We dined on lamb and vegetables, red and white wines, consumed a cheese course, dessert and port, and then we retreated to the drawing room for coffee and liquor.  I could have crawled in to bed, but we had yet to tour the house. 

My words will not do justice to the beauty of the gardens and the castle, so I hope you enjoy the pictures below of the Morgan Family at the ancestral Chilham Castle.  It is my hope that readers, like my father, will comment on my rendition and provide a bit more detail to important parts of the story and this history that I am missing.  I will say this though, many people dismiss their family history or do not give it the attention it deserve (or make fun of their father for being too in to it), but it is truly fascinating to visit a place where you're family once lived and prospered.  In a country as young as America that is rapidly growing and expanding, it is important to pause and reflect on the past and preserve it for future generations.  The Wheeler's are great stewards of the property and the history of the Digges family, and to them, the Morgan family is grateful for their interest and their hospitality. 

Above the threshold to the Castle, the inscription reads, "The Lord is My House of Defence and My Castle".

And beneath is engraved, "Sir Dudley Digges A.D. 1616 and Lady Mary Kempe"

Click on photos to view

Above the Threshold

The Approach

The Man in front of his Castle

The Morgan Family at Chilham Castle

The gardens

The back door

The Two Digges

Dad and Tessa

The Morgan family with the Lady of the Manor, Tessa Wheeler

The entrance to Chilham Castle

Dudley Digges compares his portrait (pictured at top of blog) to the one owned by the Wheeler's.

Sir Dudley Digges at home in Chilham

For more photos from our visit, please click here.