More information : (TQ 53333761) Groombridge Place (NR) (1)
Groombridge Place, a post medieval house on the site of a medieval
moated house of which the moat still remains.
John Evelyn visited Groombridge in July 1652, before the present housewas built. After his second visit in August 1674, he wrote of a house"built within a moate in a woody valley. The old house now demolishedand a new one built in its place."
John Packer had bought the estate,in 1618; his son Philip built the
new house on the old site within the moated enclosure.
The manor of Groombridge is known to have been in existence in 1286.
(2,3,4)
Groombridge Place, a large brick H-plan mainsion in excellent
condition.
GP/AO/62.298/3 : West front. The moat, completely revetted in brick
and stone, is water-filled.
Published survey (25") correct. (5)
27/38 Groombridge Place and garden wall. Grade I.
Rebuilt, probably just after the Restoration. The design is sometimesattributed to Christopher Wren. The plan is H shape, reminiscent of
that of a Jacobean mansion, but the central hall has no screen or
dias, and is a thoroughfare room. The house, reached by a bridge
across the moat is of red brick with sash windows with thick glazing
bars, Ionic portico, hipped tiled roofs, dormers, and tower like
chimney-stacks. The early sash windows in the front of the house musthave been substituted about 1700 for the older type of leaded lights
with wood mullion and transom which still survive at the back. The
Jacobean plan of the house is partly concealed by the centre portico
and loggia, behind which, however, the front door is placed to the
right and balanced by similar doorcase in the corresponding position
to the left. This strained symmetry characterizes the general
transitional style of the design. Groombridge Place is surrounded on
all four sides by a medieval moat and there is a long rectangular
ornamental lake on the axis of the main west front. Formal 17th
century garden layout on the north side. (For further details see
"Country Houses of Kent" by Arthur Oswald). (6)
Groombridge Place, built between 1652 and 1674 stands within a moat a
good deal too large for it on what must have been the courtyard of themedieval house.
Since then no alteration except sashing the windows, has ever been
made. Groombridge belongs to the group of mid 17th century brick
hipped-roofed houses in west Kent that begins with Chevening (see TQ
45 NE 12)
Contemporary brick stables to the south, also within the moat. (7)
TQ 533377 Groombridge Place, listed in the county checklists of
moated sites in Kent 1977 and December 1979. (8,9)
Groombridge Place - a practically perfect moat, broad and deep,
surrounding the buildings. (10)
|