Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade I listed building. Main construction periods 1400 to 1666 Late Medieval town house, including wall and gate piers at front.

Monument Types

• HOUSE (Medieval to Modern - 1400 AD to 2050 AD)
• GARDEN (Post Medieval to Modern - 1675 AD? to 2050 AD)

Full description

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Description from record TQ 76 NW 96 :
[TQ 7436 6822] RESTORATION HOUSE [G.T.] (1)

Restoration House in Crow Lane, Rochester, so called because it was a resting place of Charles II in 1660, was probably built between 1580 and 1600. (2-6)

Restoration House, a private residence, as described above and in good condition (See GP,AO/64/123/1-2) An official plaque affixed to the wall dates the building to 1587. (7)

Additional bibliography. (8)

ROCHESTER CROW LANE Restoration House. including wall and gatepiers to front. Large town house. Possibly late medieval in origin; the present building appears to be c.1588-1600 with a major remodelling of the facade and interior in the mid C17. [Full architectural description] LISTED GRADE I. (9)

Additional bibliography. (10)

Dendrochronology dating of the north wing gave a date of 1514-1534. (11) Further dendrochronology dating of the north range gave a date of 1640-1660. (12)

In 2008 Compass Archaeology carried out an evaluation to the south east. A brick making site (TQ 76 NW 793) was located, possibly associated with the mid 17th century work on Restoration House. After the clamps were last used in the late 17th century, the area was converted into gardens, possibly associated with Restoration House. The gardens had two-tiers with a sunken central area and a raised terraced walkway along the eastern and southern sides. The garden was maintained into the 18th century when the retaining walls were rebuilt. (13)

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
ROCHESTER CROW LANE TQ 7468 SW 9/26 Restoration House Including wall and 24.10.50 gatepiers attached to front GV I Large town house. Possibly late medieval in origin; the present building appears to be c.1588-1600 with a major remodelling of the facade and interior in the mid-C17. Occupied by Nicholas Morgan in the late C16 and conveyed in 1607 to Henry Clarke, Recorder of Rochester (1621-8) Red and brown brick, mainly in English bond (and variants); Kent tile roofs. 2 storeys with attics. Plan: U-shaped. The hall, cross-passage and former services (with solar above) aligned N/S under the same roof. N and S wings of different dates, the S wing of two or more builds. Central part of facade elaborately re-faced and a porch added in mid-C17, perhaps the 1620s. The building is complex and would repay detailed analysis. Exterior. Front: central part, 5 bays, 1, 3 and 5 break forward, 3 (the porch) is wider and gives the illusion being central. 1 and 5 contain stairs. Continuous moulded cornice; the parapet is broken over the porch by a tall attic with shaped gable. Gable window with complex moulded cornice, plain suround. Porch has giant order of pilasters; round-headed doorway with niche above; ground floor rusticated. All 1st floor windows in raised and lobed architraves with rusticated aprons; ground-floor windows in reusticated surrounds; quaining to all angles. Some casements with transoms and mullions (some contemporary); some hornless sashes in flush surrounds. The overall effect is energetic and oddly compressed between the wings. N and S wings markedly asymmetrical. N (to left), hipped roof; front with one C18 or C19 window to each floor with flush surrounds and 6, 12 and 18-pane hornless sashes; inner face of wing with 2 windows to all floors, those to 1st floor with hood moulds, the smaller of the ground floor windows originally lighting an inglenook or side-passage. Moulded 1st floor string returns, but does not connect with that of the central part. S wing with shaped gables both to the front, and the inner face of a secondary room placed in the angle formed by hall and wing. Moulded string courses at 1st and attic levels return and include the secondary room. Irregular fenestration to this feature which clearly pre-dates the hall range facade which abuts it and cuts across one of the windows. Front (S) of wing with mullioned and transomed windows to 1st and attic floor, and 2 large 19-pane sash windows to ground floor. N elevation. Irregular fenestration with several early windows with mullions and transoms some with diamond leading. Privy block, with original roundel venitlators; massive external stack to end of hall range. Later (but probably C17) buttress at S end. Much brick patching. rear. 5 window range with massive external stack (to hall) between bays 1 and 2. 4 hipped, 3-light dormers. 1st floor windows replaced in C18 and C19, all with 12-pane hornless sashes in revealed frames, 1 to 3 with segmental arches. 1st floor continuous plat band. Early windows with mullions and transoms to ground floor and cellar to bays 1, 2 and 3; bay 2 with rear entry to cross passage with C17 decorated door in surround and 2-light window over. External flight of steps. Right hand windows C19 or later, one of them a 4:12:4 tripartite sash. Evidence of privy block adjacent to the right hand and stack. The S wing is set back considerably from rear wall-place of hall range: canted bay under ogee leaded roof; 2:4:2 1st floor window with moulded mullions and transom; similar window to ground floor with later door punched through. Interior: former services (to left, or N of cross-passage) opened out in C17 to form the principal stair hall. Open-well stair with barley-sugar balusters, shaped pendants, square-section newels; timber ribbing beneath. Panelled dado later. Secondary service stairs with splat balusters to W (occupying bay 1 of facade - see exterior). Hall with 4 tiers of panelling to walls; large wooden overmantel with shaped pilasters and panels, strapwork and dentil cornice, the stone fireplace with cyma mouldings and C16 profile and high- set stops. 1st floor: principal bedroom (in position of former solar) entered through elaborate doorcase; panelled dado with paintings showing scenes from Tennyson's version of Aeniad, 1874- 80 by Mr Aveling who occupied the house and brought various fittings here from elsewhere. Chamber above Hall: 2 tiers of full-height wall panelling: carved surround to fireplace with marble and gilded woodwork. S wing, ground floor: rear parlour with 6-tier panelling (cornice with strapwork, panels with pilasters) to 2 walls, larger panels elsewhere. Unusual fire surround with flanking terms representing war and peace. Front parlour: over-mantel with paired Corinthian columns. Interior not fully inspected. The house is noticed in avray Topping's article on Rochester, Country Life 55(1924), 358-62.
Listing NGR: TQ7436868222 (14)

HE archive material: AL2400/003/01 View of the Restoration House in Rochester from the west
OP29161 View of Restoration House, Rochester, from the north-west

<1> OS 25" 1938 (OS Card Reference). SKE48265.

<2> Arch Cant 15 1883 111-16 (WB Rye) (OS Card Reference). SKE34726.

<3> Arch Cant 15 1883 117-26 (ST Aveling) (OS Card Reference). SKE34727.

<4> Country Life 27.5.1899 645 photos (C Aveling) (OS Card Reference). SKE39419.

<5> Country Life 8.3.1924 358 (HA Tipping) (OS Card Reference). SKE39452.

<6> "Hist of Rochester" 1928 478-9 photo (FF Smith) (OS Card Reference). SKE32634.

<7> F1 ASP 20.11.64 (OS Card Reference). SKE42201.

<8> Bldgs of Eng West Kent and the Weald 1980 495 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE38087.

<9> DOE(HHR)City of Rochester upon Medway Kent, 2nd Dec 1991 15-16 (OS Card Reference). SKE41270.

<10> Field report for monument TQ 76 NW 96 - January, 1965 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4131.

<11> Vernacular Architecture Group, ADS Dendrochronology Database, Vol. 28, Pg. 124 (Website). SKE17391.

<12> Vernacular Architecture Group, ADS Dendrochronology Database, Vol. 39, Pg. 107 (Website). SKE17391.

<13> Compass Archaeology, 2008, Century Buildings, land to the rear of 22/26 Victoria Street, Rochester, Kent: An archaeological evaluation (Unpublished document). SKE18071.

<14> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

Sources and further reading

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