Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade II listed building. Main construction periods 1767 to 1870

Summary from record TQ 54 NW 36 :

C18 workshop on Penshurst estate built for cricket bat and ball making

Monument Types

• FACTORY (CRICKET EQUIPMENT FACTORY, Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• SITE (Post Medieval - 1767 AD to 1870 AD)

Full description

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The following text is from the original listed building designation:
LEIGH PENSHURST ROAD TQ 54 NW 50/712 (north side) The Paddocks II
The entry shall be amended to read;
TQ 54 Nw LEIGH PENSHURST ROAD 50/712 (north side) The Paddocks GV II
House. Circa late C18 or early Cl9, extended in circa 1850. Weather- boarded timber frame, tile hung north end gable. Plain tile roof with gabled ends. 2 brick axial stacks. 2-room plan cottage with central axial stack and with circa 1850 1-room plan extension on north end. 1 storey and attic. Asymmetrical 1:3 window west front, the 1 window on left is the circa mid Cl9 extension. Circa early Cl9 and late C19 2 and 3-light casements with leaded panes, the attic casement in small gable to right of centre. Doorway to left of centre ith single tall canopied porch. Similar leaded casements to gabe ends. The east (rear) elevation has gable at centre similar to that at front with leaded-pane casement, and small casement under eaves and 12-pane sash o right and 2 large stone windows (apparently from Penshurst Place (qv)) on left each with 3 4-centred arch lights with narrow sash windows with margin glazing bars. C20 glazed porch on south gable end. Interior: South room has fielded dado panelling. Note: This was the home of the Duke family makers of cricket bats and balls in the adjacent cricket ball factory (qv). It was extended in circa 1850 when it became the Penshurst Bailiff's house, at about the time the factory moved (1841) to a site near Penshurst station.
LEIGH LEIGH 1. 5280 Penshurst Road (North Side) The Paddocks TQ 54 NW 50/712 II 2. Weatherboarded house of l-storey and attic, 3 windows, irregular. May have timber framed core but present appearance largely early Cl9. Tiled roof with attic window in small gable at right. Brick foundation. This building was the "Bat and Ball" factory where some of the earliest cricket bats were made. Graded for historical associations.
Listing NGR: TQ5410846345

Description from record TQ 54 NW 36 :
Dukes Workshop, a cricket bat and ball factory operated by four generations of the Duke family, residents of The Paddocks situated oposit. The workshop is a long single storey timber building with weatherboard cladding and plain tiled roof. Three stable doors are set in the E elevation, the central of which has a small gablet above, with irregularly placed 6-light windows. A single bay extension with shallow hipped roof has been added to the south end. Mid C18 date, poss the first purpose built cricket equipment factory (1-2)

English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

<1> Nicola Bannister, Historic landscape survey of Penshurst Estate, Tonbridge (Unpublished document). SKE6946.

<2> H, Barty-King, 1979, Quilt Winders and Pod-Shavers. The History of Cricket Bat and Ball Manufacture (Monograph). SKE6980.

<3> Cluttons, 1994, Penshurst Place: Whole estate management plan (Unpublished document). SKE6947.

Sources and further reading