Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade II* listed building. 14-15th C. Manor House. Large house of Elizabethan appearance, extensive alteration has made certainty of dates difficult. Remains of a 14 or 15th C. house found inside the H-shaped plan- which is typical of Elizabethan period. Building materials primarily consist of red brick, stone, tile and timber. There is a walled formal garden and ornamental gates, probably 17thC. A dendrochronological sample of timbers suggest that the mansion's construction used trees felled AD 1553-73 as well incorporating timbers felled in AD 1497.

Monument Types

• MANOR HOUSE (Medieval to Modern - 1300 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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The following text is from the original listed building designation:
1. 5280 SEAL STONEPITTS
Stonepitts Manor House (Formerly listed as Stonepit) TQ 55 NE 43/1058 10.9.54.
II*
2. Large house of Elizabethan appearance on the outside although there is much restoration and large windows of Elizabethan style have been inserted. Inside there appear the remains of a much older house, possibly C14 or early C15. So much has been altered that certainty is difficult. North Elevation. Projecting coupled gables with main entrance and carved stone doorway. Stone plinth. Tudor brickwork. Tile roof. Casement windows with wooden mullions and transoms. Large mullioned window lighting the hall. Typical Elizabethan plan wmth large hall and staircase leading to gallery. The main entrance is placed to one side giving access to corridor under the gallery with the Hall to the right and kitchen and buttery to the?left. Some original brick carved mouldings over windows. Side Elevations - Random stone with brick quoins. South Elevation - Mostly modern restoration. Brick and tile hung. Inside plenty of timber, much of it moved, including a beam with nailhead moulding and a good hall ceiling with heavily moulded beams and joists.
Listing NGR: TQ5686457051 (1)

Description from record TQ 55 NE 42 :
(TQ 56815704) Stonepitts Manor (NAT) (2) 5280 SEAL STONEPITTS Stonepitts Manor House (Formerly listed as Stonepit) TQ 55 NE 43/1058 10.9.54. II* 2. Large house of Elizabethan appearance on the outside although there is much restoration and large windows of Elizabethan style have been inserted. Inside there appear the remains of a much older house, possibly C14 or early C15. So much has been altered that certainty is difficult. North Elevation. Projecting coupled gables with main entrance and carved stone doorway. Stone plinth. Tudor brickwork. Tile roof. Casement windows with wooden mullions and transoms. Large mullioned window lighting the hall. Typical Elizabethan plan wmth large hall and staircase leading to gallery. The main entrance is placed to one side giving access to corridor under the gallery with the Hall to the right and kitchen and buttery to the left. Some original brick carved mouldings over windows. Side Elevations - Random stone with brick quoins. South Elevations - Mostly modern restoration. Brick and tile hung. Inside plenty of timber, much of it moved, including a beam with nailhead moulding and a good hall ceiling wth heavily moulded beams and joists. 5280 SEAL STONEPITTS Garden Walls surrounding Stonepitts Manor House TQ 55 NE 43/1060 10.9.54. II 2. The house is surrounded by brick and stone walling enclosing formal gardens and terrace, with ornamental gates facing north and south, probably mainly C17. (3) Stonepitts, Elizabthean H-shaped house, considerably altered by G.L. Kennedy after 1928. The front faces north and is of red brick on stone footings. Two storeyed. The wings have a large outer and a small inner gable, the recessed centre is almost all altered. Porch under the smaller of the left gables, with a straight sided arch and a good mould. The remaining original windows are of stone. West side of ragstone, with mullioned windows and a big chimneybreast. Half-timbered, tile-hung addition to the east side. (4) Additional bibliography - not consulted. (5)
(6) Sampling and analysis by tree-ring dating of timbers from Stonepitts Manor. Analysis concluded that the manor was constructed from timbers felled AD 1553-73 and AD 1497. The timbers dating to AD 1497 were considered to have been incorporated in the manor's construction after use in an earlier structure.

Archaeology South East, 1996, Observations and recommendations relating to the garret rooms within the parlour cross-wing at Stonepitts Manor (Unpublished document). SKE53688.

<1> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

<2> OS 1:10000 1968 (OS Card Reference). SKE48152.

<3> DOE(HHR)Dist of Sevenoaks RD Kent Jan 1975 271 (OS Card Reference). SKE41353.

<4> Bldgs of Eng W Kent and the Weald 1980 509 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE38008.

<5> A guide to the historic bldgs of Kemsing 1975 (VE Bowden) (OS Card Reference). SKE32795.

<6> English Heritage, 2003, Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers from Stonepitts Manor, Seal, Kent, Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers from Stonepitts Manor, Seal, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE13604.

Sources and further reading