Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade II* listed building. Main construction periods 1330 to 1999. Built originally as a public hall, probably in the late C14, this function continued until c1540 when the building became a house. Timber-framed with brick infilling and tile hung first floor. C17 and C18 alterations.

Monument Types

• HOUSE (Medieval to Modern - 1330 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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The following text is from the original listed building designation:
In the entry for OTFORD OTFORD The Green TQ 5259 21/745 The Chantry House
The grade shall be amended to read II* (star).
The description should be amended to read:
House, until c1540 a court hall then a house, subsequently converted into 2 cottages in the early C18. c1330-50 Court Hall with robing room at north end on 1st floor, with ground floor jail and possibly open market hall, converted into a house c1540 with curing chamber with C17 T-wing added and altered in C20. Timber framed building, the first floor tile hung, the ground floor with exposed framing and brick nogging. Steeply pitched tiled roof, gabled to north and hipped with gablet to south. Brick chimneystacks. 2 storeys and attics, 3 windows. Originally rectangular plan with C17 T-wing. Modern leaded casements, several on first floor in old frames. North front has 2 C16 windows with good mouldings, the northerly one an oriel. The others are small C17 lights including 1 in attic to north gable. West front has 1 window and C14 jetty on either side of C17 1 bay wing and C16 brick external chimneystack, the top restored in C20. Circa 1907 1 storey kitchen wing projecting from C17 wing. East front has C17 framed ground floor with blocked doorway below formerly jettied C14 upper floor. 1 lower and 3 upper windows, irregular, and C18 brick chimneystack projecting to right. The south end is a modern reconstruction truncating the original length of the building. The first floor is wholly open to collar level of the C14 roof. 5 bays with squared crown- posts and single king strut. 4 bays remain of first floor hall (now divided by modern stairs and partitions) with 5th bay occupied by former jury or robing room on first floor and jail on ground floor. Heavy C14 floor joists throughout visible as ceiling beams of ground floor rooms. Both chimney-breasts contain inglenooks with original timber lintel beams. The C16 one is 4 centred with rich mouldings and its inglenook retains a remarkable integrated curing chamber. Triangular headed salt recess. Series of carpenter's marks. (see Anthony Stoyel's 'Otford's Medieval Court Hall' 1980. Margaret Sparks and Tim Tatton-Brown 'Crown Post and King Strut Roofs in South East England' Medieval Archaeology XXVII (1983), p130).
1. 5280 OTFORD OTFORD The Green TQ 5259 21/745 The Chantry House II GV 2. Cl6 or earlier timber framed house, probably originally a hall. East front of 2 storeys, 2 windows, irregular. High pitched tiled roof with long hip and gablet at left. External chimney breast at right. Tile hung 1st floor. Visible framing with brick filling on ground floor. Modern leaded casements. West front jettied on either side of central 2-storey projection. [All the buildings in The Green form a group.] Listing NGR: TQ5282259295 (1)

Description from record TQ 55 NW 47 :
(TQ 52825929) Chantry House (NAT) (1) 1. 5280 OTFORD OTFORD The Green The Chantry House TQ 5259 21/745 II GV 2. C16 or earlier timber framed house, probably originally a hall. East front of 2 storeys, 2 windows, irregular. High pitched tiled roof with long hip and gablet at left. External chimney breast at right. Tile hung 1st floor. Visible framing with brick filling on ground floor. Modern leaded casements. West front jettied on either side of central 2-storey projection. All the buildings in The Green form a group. (2) In 1978 it was discovered that the chantry originated as a public hall, built c.1400. (3,4) Not mentioned in The Buildings of England. (5) Listing upgraded to II* April 1987. (6)

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

<2> OS 1:2500 1962 (OS Card Reference). SKE48204.

<3> DOE(HHR) Dist of Sevenoaks RD Kent 1975 189 (OS Card Reference). SKE41023.

<4> Arch Cant 96 1980 367 (A D Stoyel) (OS Card Reference). SKE36248.

<5> Otford's Medieval Court Hall 1980 (Sevenoaks Dist Architectural History) (OS Card Reference). SKE48436.

<6> Bldgs of Eng W Kent & the Weald 1969 (J Newman & N Pevsner) (OS Card Reference). SKE37833.

<6> DOE (HHR) Sevenoaks Rural District (Amendment letter 3.4.87) (OS Card Reference). SKE40611.

Sources and further reading