Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade II* listed building. Main construction periods 1380 to 1866

Monument Types

• SITE (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1380 AD to 1866 AD) + Sci.Date

Full description

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The following text is from the original listed building designation:
HORSMONDEN RECTORY PARK ROAD TQ 73 NW (north side) 4/92 Rectory Park (formerly listed as The 20.10.54 Old Rectory) GV 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).
Listing NGR: TQ7032038807

Dendrochronology dating of the cross wing gave a date of c.1457. (2)

The history of the site and building was detailed at the time of a survey of the building in 2012. (3)

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

<2> Vernacular Architecture Group, ADS Dendrochronology Database, Vol. 19, Pg. 48 (Website). SKE17391.

<3> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2013, Rectory Park, Horsmonden, Kent: Historic building assessment (Unpublished document). SKE25085.

Sources and further reading