in 1408. His granddaughter Joan inherited his estates and married four times. Her last husband, Sir John Oldcastle, was executed in 1417 for his role in the Lollard heresy. The Cobham title remained intact but the castle passed to other families down the female line. Wyatt's Rebellion Cooling Castle saw action only once, in 1554, when it was attacked by the forces of the Kentish landowner Sir Thomas Wyatt during his rebellion against Queen Mary's engagement to King Philip II of Spain. In an unsuccessful bid to overthrow the unpopular queen and place Princess (later Queen) Elizabeth on the throne, he raised an army of some 4,000 men and captured two cannons from the army of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, in an encounter at Strood, a few miles south of Cooling. It is unclear why, while ostensibly marching on London, he attacked Cooling as the detour gave Mary more time to prepare her own defences. There may have been a personal motive for Wyatt as the castle's occupant was his uncle George Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham (c.1497-1558). The defenders were forced to surrender on 30 January 1554 after only eight hours of siege and bombardment which badly damaged the castle. According to contemporary reports, Cobham had just eight men armed with "only four or five handguns, four pikes and some blakbylls" to defend the castle. Wyatt proceeded to London but was defeated and executed for his treason. Cobham and his son were imprisoned in the Tower of London on suspicion of having deliberately failed to defend the castle, but were soon released and allowed to return to their estates. The castle was never rebuilt after being ruined by Wyatt's bombardment; the Cobhams abandoned it and subsequently lived at Cobham Hall, and the castle was allowed to fall into disrepair. Current status The castle remained in the Cobhams' ownership until the 18th century. Between 1650 and 1670, Sir Thomas Whitmore built a farmhouse within the castle's outer ward, which has undergone many alterations over the years. Its facade dates from the 19th century and was reworked in the 20th century. An L-shaped range of outbuildings was also constructed in the outer ward, including a timber-framed barn that was built in the 17th century. At some point in the 18th or 19th century, part of the inner ward was landscaped, possibly to create a garden incorporating the ruins. The ownership