Rectory Park, Horsmonden

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1 The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Tunbridge Wells Borough Rectory Park, Horsmonden July 2009

3 Rectory Park Horsmonden, Kent INTRODUCTION SITE DESCRIPTION LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: Boundary map. FIGURE 2: Key views map. FIGURE 3: Map of listed buildings at Rectory Park. FIGURE 4: Listed buildings at Rectory Park. FIGURE 5: Aerial photograph. FIGURES ONLY ON CD FIGURE 6: Sketch from 1671 Spelmonden Estate Map. Janet Mayfield. FIGURE 7: J. Andrews, W. Dury and W. Herbert, A Topographical Map of the County of Kent FIGURE 8: Edward Hasted map Figure 9: Tithe map FIGURE 10: Ordnance Survey 1st edn 25 map (1869). FIGURE 11: Ordnance Survey 2nd edn 6 map (1897). FIGURE 12: Ordnance Survey 3rd edn 25 OS map (1908). FIGURE 13: Ordnance Survey revd edn 25 OS map (1938). FIGURE 14: Estate map from Sales Particulars for Horsmonden Rectory CKS ref U1926 E271. FIGURE 15: b/w photograph from Anthony Cronk, A Wealden Rector, Victorian Journal (1975). FIGURE 16: Photographs of Rectory Park February 2009.

4 INTRODUCTION This site dossier and description has been prepared as part of the Review of The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Tunbridge Wells Borough 2009, and should be read in conjunction with the full project report which can be found at This site is one of many sites that have been researched, visited and written about across the Borough and as a consequence has been included in the revised list of Historic Parks and Gardens covered by the Borough Councils Planning Policies. The list is not conclusive and further gardens may be added over time as research continues or information comes to light The review for Tunbridge Wells Borough was a pilot project to establish a partnership and methodology for the review of the compendium across Kent and provide an example of good practice across the County and the region. The research was largely carried out by volunteers of the Kent Gardens Trust with support and training from the project consultants Virginia Hinze and Dr Barbara Simms. The extent of the area identified represents the remains of the designed landscape and does not necessarily cover all remaining elements or the historical extent of landscape changes and takes no account of current ownership. Further Information is available from the contacts listed below. The partnership would like to thank the volunteers and owners who have participated in this project and given so much of their time, effort and hospitality to complete this challenging and rewarding task. Planning Services Tunbridge Wells Borough Council Town Hall Royal Tunbridge Wells Kent TN1 1RS Kent Gardens Trust Kent County Council Heritage Conservation Invicta House County Hall Maidstone ME14 1XX High Weald AONB Unit Woodland Enterprise Centre Hastings Road Flimwell East Sussex TN5 7PR

5 SITE DESCRIPTION KENT RECTORY PARK TUNBRIDGE WELLS HORSMONDEN TQ SUMMARY OF THE HISTORIC INTEREST Early C19 ornamental gardens laid out around a C15 timber-framed house with later additions and set within parkland with mature trees and lakes. CHRONOLOGY OF THE HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT The manor of Horsemonden (from the C18 Horsmonden) was once part of the antient possessions of the archbishopric of Canterbury but from the C12 was held by a number of eminent families, most notably the Clares, the Earls of Gloucester and Hertford (Hasted). Through marriage the manor passed to Henry, Earl of Northumberland who, in the 1530s, deeded it to Henry VIII who granted it to a Stephen Darrell seven years later. Appended to the manor was the patronage of the Horsmonden church of St Margaret s and a C15 rectory. Over the subsequent two hundred years the manor of Horsmonden changed hands a number of times until, in the mid-c18, the c.800ha estate was inherited by James Marriott of Spelmonden who was in holy orders and LL.D (Hasted). He moved into the rectory as (probably) the seventh rector following the Rev d Mr Bates the fifth here since the dissolution of the monasteries (Harris) who was the incumbent in 1719 and William Hassell who added four rooms at very considerable expense (1733 Horsmonden Register). A house on the site of the present Rectory Park is named as parsonage on a 1671 Spelmonden estate map and on the 1769 Andrews, Dury and Herbert map and is also shown on Hasted s 1778 map. Marriott rebuilt the Parsonage House in the style of the gentleman s residence (Cronk 1967) adding a stable block, a coach house and walled kitchen gardens (listed building description). James Marriott remained in residence until his death in 1825 when the estate was inherited by Revd William Marriott Smith (sometimes Marriott Smith Marriott). He made improvements to the estate farms and cottages and damned a stream to pen some ornamental water, landscaped as two deep interconnected spring-fed ponds for fishing and boating (Cronk 1975). These are shown on the 1843 Tithe Map and in 1854 his diary records that he had also made improvements in the park, orchard and meadow. These included building a new boat house, two new lodges and, on the west side of Spelmonden Road, a tower in honour of Sir Walter Scott (1st OS map). By 1862 the parsonage had been renamed The Rectory (or sometimes Rectory). The Smith Marriotts continued to occupy The Rectory until the death of Revd Sir Hugh Cavendish Smith Marriott in 1944 when it was offered for sale as Horsmonden Rectory with some 65ha of land, other holdings having been sold

6 off in the intervening years (Sales Particulars). The estate included c.25ha of pleasure grounds and parkland set in woods of many fine and valuable oak trees and fine plantations of Chestnut underwood, the cutting of which provides a good revenue. It is not clear whether the estate was sold at that time but from 1952 the property was owned by Judge Glazebrook who renamed it Rectory Park. He carried out a tree replanting programme from , continued to manage the woodlands for timber and to develop the gardens until he sold in 1988 to the present owners. The property remains in single, private ownership. SITE DESCRIPTION LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING Rectory Park lies some 90m above sea level in an area of the High Weald described by the historian Edward Hasted as being a surface of continued hill and dale and much interspersed with coppice woods of oaks. It has fine views eastwards over its parkland to the surrounding pasture, orchards and hop fields and northwards towards its lakes (now, 2009, limited by tree growth). The c.20ha site is located about 2km south of Horsmonden, 2km north-west of Goudhurst and 12.5km east of Royal Tunbridge Wells. It is bounded on its north side by farmland, to its east and south-east by Brick Kiln Lane and to its northwest, west and south-west by, respectively, Calves Lodge Shaw, Parsonage Wood and Lordship Wood. ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES The approach to Rectory Park is off the north side of Rectory Park Road some 300m east of its junction with Spelmonden Road and as it turns to run southwards to St Margaret s Church (660m south of the house). A gravelled drive lined on the east side with young beech trees runs c.120m in a northeasterly direction with views eastwards across parkland. The drive is enclosed from the parkland on its east by 1.5m high wooden ranch fencing and on its west by a 2m high beech hedge which screens adjacent C20 agricultural buildings. The drive passes between further beech hedges the runs for a further 50m to arrive at a gravelled forecourt on the south, entrance front of the house. From the forecourt there are also views eastwards across lawns to the park. The present drive survives from at least the mid-c18 when it served as the route from the rectory to St Margaret s Church (Hasted) and which, in the early C19, was developed by Revd William Marriott Smith as one of the neat carriage drives and lodge gates at the entrances (Cronk). The drive is shown on the Tithe and 1862 OS maps and on the latter it is lined on either side by an avenue of oak trees, one of which survives at its northern end. In the mid C19 the drive entered Rectory Park s grounds some 600m south-west of the house at Church Lodge (now, 2009, known as The Lodge), a brick and tile lodge standing on Brick Kiln Lane, 300m from its junction with Spelmonden Road. Since the mid- C20 the lodge has been in separate, private ownership. A second drive, now a track, entered the estate from Spelmonden Road at a lodge (listed grade II) some 400m south-west of the house. The C19, twostorey, red brick lodge has moulded bargeboarded gables and tile hanging and was extended to the rear in the late C19 (listed building description). Now

7 named Linden, it is in separate, private ownership. From the lodge the drive ran 330m in a north-easterly direction to reach the northern end of the main drive from Rectory Park Road. PRINCIPAL BUILDING Rectory Park (listed grade II*) was built in the C15, extended in the C16 and altered in the mid-c18 and mid-c19 (listed building description). It is a threestorey, timber-framed house and is rendered, part tile hung, and clad and extended in red brick. According to the listed building description its moulded arch braced trussed roof is of a type rare in Kent, an opinion that supports Harris s comment when he visited the house in 1719: This gentleman showed me the roof of the Parsonage House which is so uncommon that I never saw the like before. Tis framed of huge strong compassing or circular timbers, just like the ribs of a ship; and really it looks very much like the hold of a ship inverted. The two C19 wings on the south front of the house have moulded bargeboards with pendants and finials. Pevsner described this façade as Unbeautiful, almost symmetrical contrived in the early C19 by stretching a battlemented white brick centre between the pre-existing red-brick gables to left and right The gables got droopy bargeboards at the same time. Forty metres south-west of the house is a mid-c18 stable block (listed grade II) with a mid-c19 clock turret and weather vane dated WMSM It has a twostorey central block and single-storey flanking wings and is constructed of red and blue brick. Ten metres south-east of the stable block is an C18 coach house (listed grade II). It comprises two single-storey hipped blocks which are timber-framed and weather boarded with a plain tiled roof (listed building description). GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS The gardens on the north, east and south sides of the house are laid to lawn with shrubberies and mature trees and are enclosed variously by hedges, ranch-style, wooden fencing and post-and wire fencing. The layout of these gardens survives from the mid-c19 (1860 photograph; 1st edn OS map) apart from the late C19 alterarions which extended the lawns, walks and shrubberies to include an orchard immediately south of the kitchen gardens (1897 OS map). In 1944 the house was surrounded by lawns, divided from the adjacent parkland by iron fencing, and providing many picturesque walks with pleasing prospects of the woods and lakes (Sales Particulars). The main ornamental gardens lie on the west side of the house within and around the former walled kitchen garden. The 2.5m high, brick-walled garden (listed grade II) lies 40m west of the house and comprises two sections separated by a brick wall. The western section is a rectangular area (50m x 40m) divided into quarters and partly laid to lawn with ornamental planting and partly cultivated for productive use. The eastern section is of an irregular shape (c. 30m x 15m) with the northern end of the stable block occupying its southeast corner. It is now laid to grass. A few metres further east again is a late C20 wire-enclosed tennis court.

8 In 1862 the western rectangular section of the kitchen garden is shown divided into quarters with perimeter walks and a fountain at its centre (1st edn OS map). A greenhouse, possibly the vine house mentioned in the 1944 Sales Particulars, occupied the exterior of a section of its southern wall, standing within a slip garden or frame yard. Additional lean-to and free- standing greenhouses were erected during the late C19 (2nd edn OS map) and are now gone. Earlier, in about 1840 according to Cronk, Revd William Marriot Smith s diary records a moment of ephemeral fame among horticulturalists when Mr Gulliver, his gardener, raised the first fuchsia with white sepals which he named Venus Victrix. The 1944 Sales Particulars described a fine kitchen garden about a quarter of an acre, with peach, fig, cherries, and other walled fruit, besides cordon apples a vine house on the south side; potting and tool sheds and smaller lean-to glasshouse. Nineteenth-century maps provide few indications of the function of the irregularshaped eastern section of the walled garden although it featured a sundial and a glass house was built on the exterior of its north wall (1862 OS map). By 1944, however, it had been laid out as an attractive Dutch garden (Sales Particulars). PARKLAND Parkland to the north, east and south-west of the house is managed as pasture, with many mature oak trees and a few C19 Wellingtonia surviving. The slopes of the western park rise steeply from south to north and then drop towards the lakes, the early C19 spring-fed ponds which lie c.150m north of the house and which Revd William Marriott Smith created by damming a stream in the park. A bridge with wooden slats and iron railings (a C20 replacement for the bridge recorded on C19 maps) crosses the water at the point where the stream enters the lake, the edges of which are overgrown with self-sown trees which obscure views to and from the house. The present extent and layout of the parkland survives intact from the mid-c19 (Tithe Map) when the house was described as being set within a spacious park (Bagshaw). Nineteenth-century and early C20 OS maps depict the well-treed parkland and local directories document a fine and well-wooded park (Kelly 1899, 1934). The 1944 Sales Particulars describe a beautifully timbered parkland that culminates to the north in two charming lakes, the most northerly used for bathing, and the other affording excellent fishing. A footpath shown on the 1862 OS map runs from Rectory Park Road across the western parkland and crosses the bridge over the lake to continue to Lewes Heath some 500m further north. REFERENCES Books and articles John Harris, History of Kent: An Exact Topography and History of the County (London: Midwinter, 1719).

9 Edward Hasted, Parishes: Horsemonden, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 5 (1798), pp W. H. Ireland, History of the County of Kent (London: G. Virtue, 1829). Pigot, Directory for Horsmonden Bagshaw, A History, Gazeteer and Directory of the County of Kent (1847). Kelly, Directory for Horsmonden (1899, 1934). Pevsner, Nikolaus and Newman, J., The Buildings of England. West Kent and the Weald (1969), pp Anthony Cronk, St Margaret s Church, Horsmonden (1967). Anthony Cronk, A Wealden Rector, Victorian Journal (1975). Maps 1671 Spelmonden Estate Map. J. Andrews, W. Dury and W. Herbert, A Topographical Map of the County of Kent Edward Hasted map Tithe map (Horsmonden Parish) and apportionment OS maps 1st edn nd edn rd edn th edn OS map 1st edn Sheet 61/16 2nd edn Sheet 61/16 3rd edn Sheet 61/16 Revd edn Sheet 61/16 Estate map from Sales Particulars for Horsmonden Rectory CKS ref U1926 E map from Kent Compendium. Modern Mastermap 1:2, Map showing listed buildings within Rectory Park boundaries Illustrations 1860 photograph from Cronk. Photographs (a) south face of the lawn 1980 (b) rose garden 1981/2. Kent Compendium. Aerial photograph (2003). Archival items Register for Horsmonden Sales Particulars for Horsmonden Rectory CKS ref U1926 E271. English Heritage Listed Buildings entries: undated. Kent Compendium entry Research by Janet Mayfield Description written by Barbara Simms Edited by Virginia Hinze July 2009

10 Kent Compendium of Historic Parks & Gardens 2009 review of Tunbridge Wells Borough Fig. 1 Boundary map

11 Kent Compendium of Historic Parks & Gardens 2009 review of Tunbridge Wells Borough Fig. 2 Key views map

12 Kent Compendium of Historic Parks & Gardens 2009 review of Tunbridge Wells Borough Fig. 3 Map of listed buildings at Rectory Park

13 Kent Compendium of Historic Parks & Gardens 2009 review of Tunbridge Wells Borough Fig. 4 Listed buildings at Rectory Park Kent Historic Environment Record reference: MKE37019 HORSMONDEN RECTORY PARK ROAD TQ 73 NW (north side) 4/93 Stable block and walled gardens about 50 metres west of Rectory Park Grade II Stables and walled gardens. Mid C18 with mid C19 clock turret. Red and blue brick with plain tiled roof. Stables with 2 storey central block and single storey flanking wings, all with plinth and brick dentil eaves to hipped roofs, that to left extended at lower level. Clock turret added to centre with open belfry and ornamentally tiled roof, the weather vane dated WMSM 1856 (William Marriot Smith- Marriot). Two segmentally headed glazing bar sashes to each floor of central block with central boarded door with semicircular fanlight, and 2 glazing bar sashes to each wing with similar boarded doors and doorways, all openings with gauged brick heads. Left end extension with stack to rear left and glazing bar sash to return elevation. Interior: brick and granite sett floors and stalls and loose box frames remain, as do curious recesses in right hand rear wall used either as storage or as part of a special feeding system. Inner wall face in English bond brickwork, as is rear wall and parts of the attached walls to the walled gardens. These are some 7 to 8 feet in height with occasional openings and enclosing two courts,an irregularly shaped area about 30 by 15 metres, and a rectangular area about 50 by 40 metres. Kent Historic Environment Record reference: MKE38108 HORSMONDEN RECTORY PARK ROAD TQ 63 NE (north side) 3/95 Linden Grade II House. Mid C19. Red brick ground floor and fish-scale tile hung first floor with plain tiled roof. L-shaped plan. Two storeys, with moulded bargeboarded gables and central moulded stack cluster. Arched wooden casement on each floor, with arched rib and stud door in gable end to roadside. Two casements on each floor to left return. Extension under construction to rear at time of survey. A similar estate cottage is in Brick Kiln lane nearby, and bath were probably erected for the Smith-Marriot family of Rectory Park, to which this was the farmer gate lodge. Kent Historic Environment Record reference: MKE38996 HORSMONDEN RECTORY PARK ROAD TQ 73 NW (north side) 4/94 Coachhouse/cart sheds about 50 metres south west of Rectory Park Grade II Coachhouse/cart sheds. C18/mid C19. Timber framed and weather boarded with plain tiled roofs. Two single storey hipped blocks, that to left with pyramidal shaped roof and two sets of boarded carriage doors with strap hinges, that to right with three sets of similar doors, and boarded door to right in outshot. The sett and paviour flooring extended to small foreyard. Included for group value.

14 Kent Historic Environment Record reference: MKE38997 HORSMONDEN RECTORY PARK ROAD TQ 73 NW (north side) 4/92 Rectory Park (formerly listed as The Old Rectory) Grade II* House. C15 extended C16 and altered mid C18 and mid C19. Timber framed and rendered, part tile hung, and clad and extended with red brick. Plain tiled roof. Hall house plan with cross wing comprising first floor hall, possibly the earliest phase. Entrance elevation of 3 storeys on plinth with projecting jettied wing to left and projecting gable to right with stone plat band, both wings with mid C19 moulded bargeboards with pendants and finials, the main range with battlemented mid C19 parapet in white stock brick. Stacks to left and to rear right. Irregular fenestration of 2 glazing bar sashes on second floor of main block, 5 on first floor and 4 on ground floor, with central gabled porch with glazed outer doors, raised and fielded panelled inner door and short flight of steps and relief of Smith-Marriot arms over door with a suitable welcoming and homely inscription. Right band wing originally mid C18 in character, altered aid C19 with 2 glazing bar sashes on first floor and 2 blocked central openings above and below, suggesting an originally 3 storeyed building truncated on the application of the bargeboarded gable. Projecting from ground floor a single storey bargeboarded gabled extension with a Gothic arched sash. Right return showing the original form of the whole wing with 2 storeys on plinth with stone plat band, parapet and two 2 storey canted bays with glazing bar sashes. Left hand timber framed wing with lattice pattern leaded 3 light casement in garret and tripartite glazing bar sash on first floor. Ground floor with underbuilt jetty with tripled attached moulded colonettes at the corners and pentice with red brick side walls. Left return with jetty with moulded bresummer on dragon posts and with thin moulded colonettes attached to upper floor supporting brackets to the eaves. Jetty underbuilt at end left. Projecting stone stack to right, gabled dormer to centre and C19 bell turret to centre left. Irregular wooden casements on each floor and boarded door. Single storey service wings projecting at left and at right to form open ended courtyard. Rear elevation with 3 tile hung gables and irregularly projecting additions of 1 and 2 storeys, all battlemented with glazing bar sashes and casements to kitchen block to right, with arched French doors to left to drawing room and arched half-glazed door to centre. Interior: the jettied left hand block is a remarkable first floor hall with heavily moulded wall plate, the moulded colonettes of the exterior repeated on the inner walls and with moulded arch braced trussed roof with heavily curved windbraces. The roof is probably c.1400 and of a type rare in Kent (see B.O.E.Kent I, p.334), the inserted first floor ceiling has heavily moulded beams, probably early C16. Stone fireplace to externally projecting stack. Main range with central hall with 4 centrally placed inserted wooden columns, leading off it is the main stair, C18 dog leg plan with turned baluster and ramped moulded handrail, the back stairs also with turned balusters. Principal ground floor rooms and porch with much panelling, C17 panelled overmantel and wainscotting with lozenge enrichment, some C16 or earlier plank and muntin panelling with wave moulded enrichment, some 'proto-linenfold' and some fully developed linenfold. Much has clearly been introduced and cut to fit, probably in the mid C19, but much may be original to the house. Unusual mid C19 cast iron ceiling roses, other good C19 features such as moulded curtain pelmets and marble fireplaces. The C18 alterations were made for William Hassel, rector 1724-l785. The house later became the seat of the Smith-Marriot family, principal landowners, lords of the manor and rectors of Horsmonden, the C19 alterations done for the Rev. William Marriot Smith-Marriot, Bart., rector 1825 to 1864 (see A.Cronk,St.Margarets Church Horsmonden, 1967, passim).

15 Kent Compendium of Historic Parks & Gardens 2009 review of Tunbridge Wells Borough Fig. 5 Aerial photograph

Angley Park, Cranbrook

The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Tunbridge Wells Borough Angley Park, Cranbrook June 2009 Angley Park Cranbrook, Kent INTRODUCTION SITE DESCRIPTION LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: Boundary