Herstmonceux Castle has a long history, with the settlement at "Herste" mentioned in the Doomsday Book compiled after the Norman Invasion of 1066. The name is a mix of the old Saxon name (Herste) with that of the Norman invaders (Monceux). Work began on the current structure in 1441 and it remains the oldest brick structure in England. The Castle was, for many years, the home of the Royal Greenwich Observatory.

The Castle was donated to Queen's University in 1992 by Dr. Alfred and Mrs. Isabel Bader, along with substantial funds for its modernization. Dr. Bader, an Austrian Jew of Czech descent fled Europe in 1938 and arrived in England. The fortunes of war forced the British Government to deport such refugees, and in 1940 Alfred Bader arrived in an internment camp on the U.S.-Canada border. With the help of a family that had befriended him in England, Alfred Bader applied to enter university in Canada. He was rejected by both McGill and the Univeristy of Toronto but admitted to Queen's in 1941.

Following a distinguished undergraduate career at Queen's (followed by studies for an M.Sc.) Alfred Bader was accepted by and received his PhD in Chemistry from Harvard University. His successes in the business world are well documented, as is his generosity to both Queen's and Harvard Universities.

If you'd like to get a look at the castle, you can do so at its website:

http://castle.isc.queensu.ca/isc/welcome.html

and then click on "Pictorial Overview".