The castle continued to be owned and occupied by the Stradling family until the death of Sir Thomas Stradling in 1738. After seeing photographs of the castle in Country Life magazine, the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst bought it in 1925 and used it to entertain guests such as  Charlie Chaplin and a young John F. Kennedy. Hearst’s newspaper empire fell on hard times in the later 1930s and the castle was put up for sale but instead requisitioned for use by British and American troops during World War II. Hearst died in 1951 and the castle was sold in 1962. Today it houses Atlantic College and Saint Donat’s Arts Centre but is also used as a venue for weddings.

Our family is descendent from Sir Peter Stradling through my mother, Mary Elizbeth Ross.