Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade II* listed building. Main construction periods 1400 to 1899 A medieval manor house surrounded by a still water filled moat, A large oasthouse is located at the western end of the platform. Elements of the original 14th century house remain but the main range was entirely rebuilt in the 16th century. A number of alterations took place at the house in the subsequent centuries. These included the addition of chimneys and reconstructions of the ground floor in brick. 15th c hall-house with later additions & Oasthouse. Homestead moat & fishponds

Monument Types

• MOAT (MOAT, Medieval - 1066 AD? to 1539 AD?)
• FISHPOND (FISHPOND, Medieval to Post Medieval - 1400 AD to 1900 AD)
• HOUSE (HOUSE, Medieval to Modern - 1400 AD to 2050 AD)
• MANOR (Altered, Medieval to Modern - 1400 AD? to 2050 AD)
• SITE (Medieval to Modern - 1400 AD to 2050 AD)
• OASTHOUSE (OASTHOUSE, Post Medieval - 1800 AD to 1900 AD)

Full description

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Description from record TQ 83 NW 20 :
The main range of this house is approximately central to its surrounding moated enclosure with a large attached oasthouse to the western end of the platform. Most of the moat still has water. The oldest part of the house is probably C14. The main range was entirely rebuilt in the C16. In the E C17 a brick chimney was inserted into the hall and a new level was built in to produce an attic space. In the C17 or C18 the W 1st floor wall of the crosswing was weather tiled. C19 a new chimney was added and a large oasthouse built. The ground floor was also reconstructed in brick. (1)

Description from record TQ 83 NW 2 :
TQ 81693911 : Bettenham, a 16th c and later farmhouse, is surrounded on all sides, but the S by a wet homestead moat. Beyond a retaining bank on the N, are two wet fishponds, and there is a probable third outside the NE angle. There is a shallow depression running in a general north-westerly direction from the SW angle of the moat, but its age and purpose are uncertain. Published 25" survey revised. (1)

[TQ 81693911] Moat [NR] (2)

TQ 817392. Moat at Bettenham, Cranbrook listed in the county checklist of moated sites for Kent (3)(4) (See TQ 83 NW 14 for Bettenham Manor). (3-4)

Bettenham Manor and Oast to the west (formerly listed as Bettenham) hall-house, now house, with granary and three roundels attached to the west. 15th c with elevations of the 18th c and 19th c, 17th c eastern extension and early 19th c granary. (5 - 6)

The main range of this house is approximately central to its surrounding moated enclosure with a large attached oasthouse to the western end of the platform. Most of the moat still has water. The oldest part of the house is prob. C14. The main range was entirely rebuilt in the C16. In the E C17 a brick chimney was inserted into the hall and a new level was built in to produce an attic space. In the C17 or C18 the W 1st floor wall of the crosswing was weather tiled. C19 a new chimney was added and a large oasthouse built. The ground floor was also reconstructed in brick. (7)

The history of the manor and the development of the building has been detailed from the earliest records through to the modern period. (8)

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
CRANBROOK THREE CHIMNEYS (east side) TQ 83 NW SISSINGHURST 4/280 Bettenham Manor and 20.6.67 Oast to the west (formerly listed as Bettenham) - II*
Hall-house, now house, with granary and three roundels attached to the west. C15 with elevations of the C18 and C19, C17 eastern extension and early C19 granary with two roundels. One C19 roundel. Timber framed with brick ele- vations on the ground floor, tile hung on first floor, except granary which is weatherboarded. Plain tiled roofs. SOUTH FRONT: Roof with hipped return gable to left and half hipped and gable of granary at entrance left. Tall brick stack to right of kitchen gable on main ridge. The hipped gable is the south end gable of the 'Wealden' hall-house which is buried in the depth of the block. 2 storeys; irregular fenestration of 4 windows on first floor and 3 windows on ground floor, all C19 casements. Boarded door in the centre. To the rear, the half house block is jettied, now clad in weatherboarding. Catslide outshut in angle behind C17 block. Granary projects to right ending in parallel roundel pair with third to west. Red brick with tiled eaves and weatherboarded cowls and wind-vanes. Interior: Substantial timber frame. Inserted floors with lambs-tongue stops to chamfered beams and two large fireplaces, one with a later C16 depressed and moulded arch surround, the other with a very large wooden bressummer. Evidence of former 'Wealden' hall house in survival of dragon beams and arched truss supporting the crown post. Crown post collar purlin roof. Curved bracing with some wattle and daub infill inside the house. C17 wooden staircase. The granary and roundels have, at the time of the resurvey been converted into a store for historic perambulators and baby-carriages. Moated site.
Listing NGR: TQ8169239118 (9)

<1> F1 CFW 13-FEB-63 (OS Card Reference). SKE42559.

<1> Untitled Source, Arch South East. Standing Buildings Survey 1998. (Unpublished document). SKE6451.

<2> OS 1:10000 1978 (OS Card Reference). SKE48163.

<3> Arch Cant 93 1977 221 (T Tatton-Brown) (OS Card Reference). SKE36146.

<4> Moated Sites Res Gp Rep 6 1979 46 (OS Card Reference). SKE47266.

<5> DOE(HHR) Tunbridge Wells Dist Kent (Cranbrook Ph) 19th May 1986 103 (OS Card Reference). SKE41214.

<6> Field report for monument TQ 83 NW 2 - February, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4317.

<7> Untitled Source (Unpublished document). SKE6451.

<8> Kent Archaeological Projects, 2012, An archaeological and historical assessment and evaluation at Bettenham Court Manor, near Biddenden, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE17545.

<9> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

Sources and further reading