Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade II* listed building. Main construction periods 1500 to 1999. 17thc Farmhouse

Monument Types

• FARMHOUSE (Post Medieval to Modern - 1609 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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Description from record TQ 65 NW 24 :
[TQ 6365 5858] Ford Place (NAT) (1) Ford Place is a large brick early 17th c. farmhouse of two storeys with attics. It stands on an ironstone plinth and exhibits the crow- stepped gabling, dutch gabled dormers and large moulded brick mullioned and transomed windows of the period. The south side of the house incorporates the ironstone lower storey and ironstone chimney stacks of an earlier house; the upper storey was of timber-framing but this has been rendered over. Some 16th c. stone mullioned windows have been retained in this side. The ironstone stacks have been rebuilt in modern brick above the roof level and a plaque on one of these bears the date 1609. Parts of the outbuildings and garden wall are contemporary with the early 17th c. house. GP: AO/59/189/1 & 2. (2) TQ 65 NW WROTHAM C.P. FORD LANE 5/24 (east side) 1.8.52 Ford Place and wall to north GV II* Country house, of which only south wing survives. Dated 1582 and 1605 on stacks, but armorials C20 in style. Probably built about 1600. Red brick to north and west, with some stone dressings. The south side of brick and coursed rubble on ground-floor. Rendered on 1st floor. Stringcourse over ground-floor to north. Plain tiled roof, with 3 gables to north, decorative with steps, quarter-circles and lunettes surmounting. Large stepped gable to west. Three chimney- breasts with tall stacks on south side. 2 storeys; regular 3 window 1st floor to north, mullioned and transom windows of rubbed brick to resemble stone, under each north side gable. 2 blocked windows of similar type on 1st floor of west end. Irregular fenestration of ground-floor of north front and on south front. C20 boarded and rubbed door in moulded surround to right of west facade. Interior: collar-purlin roof with crown-posts, modified and re-used at east end of block. Linenfold panelling in one 1st floor room, a stone chimney-piece in another, its lintel covered with arabesques and 2 squirrels below blackbird in cherry. West drawing room; large fireplace with bressumer. Wall: attached at west end of north side. C16 in origin, but much patched later. Coursed rubble stone below, red and blue brick above, on probable site of courtyard screen wall. 6 ft high and 30 yds long. Remains of blocked gateway visible in centre. House probably built by William Clarke, to whom there is a brass dated 1611 in Wrotham Church. Forde passed to the Bartholomew and Geary families of West Peckham in the eighteenth century, at which time it was relegated to farmhouse status and sold. Restored, after semi-dereliction, in the 1920's, it is now divided into 2 properties. TQ 65 NW WROTHAM C.P. FORD LANE 5/20 (east side) 1.8.52 Wall 40 yards to the north-west of Ford Place GV II Wall. C16 in origin but much patched later. Coursed galletted rubble stone below, red brick with some blue brick headers, above, laid in English bond. 15 yards long by 6 feet high. TQ 65 NW WROTHAM C.P. FORD LANE 5/23 (east side) 1.8.52 Wall 10 yards to the north-east of Ford Place GV II Wall. C16 in origin, but much patched later. Coursed rubble stone below, red brick above, laid in English bond. This wall stands on the probable site of the front wall of the main block of the original house. 30 yards and 6 feet high. TQ 65 NW WROTHAM C.P. FORD LANE 5/22 (east side) 1.8.52 Wall 40 yards to the north-east of Ford Place, that part in Wrotham GV II Wall. C16 in origin but much patched later. Coursed galletted rubble stone below, red brick with some blue brick headers, above, laid in English bond. 15 yards long by 6 feet high.
TQ 65 NW WROTHAM C.P. FORD LANE 5/23 (east side) 1.8.52 wall 10 yards to the north-east of Ford Place GV II
Wall. C16 in origin, but much patched later. Coursed rubble stone below, red brick above, laid in English bond. This wall stands on the probable site of the front wall of the main block of the original house. 30 yards and 6 feet high. TQ 65 NW WROTHAM C.P. FORD LANE 5/22 (east side) 1.8.52 wall 40 yards to the north-east of Ford Place, that part in Wrotham GV II
Wall. C16 in origin, but much patched later. 3 separate ranges. Right. Random rubble, 10 feet high, 6 yards long, containing remains of entrance to original house. Centre. Random rubble, 5 feet high, 7 yards long. Central opening with built-up brick arch over. Left. Random rubble with brick coping. 8 ½ feet high, 5 yards long. This building is also listed under Addington C.P.
TQ 65 NW WROTHAM C.P. FORD LANE 5/21 (east side) 1.8.52 Stable 30 yards to the north of Ford Place GV II
Stable. C19 using C16 wall of former house. Red brick on coursed rubble plinth to court. Random galletted rubble stone to north, with red brick extension to left. Plain tiled roof, hipped to right, 1 hipped semi-dormer on both blocks. 1 ½ storeys; 2 casement windows and garage door to left, 2 windows and garage door to right. (3)
Ford Place. An interesting fragment, one wing of a large Elizabethan or Jacobean mansion. The plan must have been a half-H of which the center and north wing have disappeared. On the chimney stacks are the dates, in 20th century numerals, 1582 and 1605. N.K.Denham points out that drawings in Maidstone Museum made in 1894 record the dates on the original stacks 1589 and 1605. "The plan of the house would suit the earlier date, the gables to the latter." Full architectural description. (4)

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
TQ 65 NW WROTHAM C.P. FORD LANE 5/24 (east side) 1.8.52 Ford Place and wall to north GV II*
Country house, of which only south wing survives. Dated 1582 and 1605 on stacks, but armorials C20 in style. Probably built about 1600. Red brick to north and west, with some stone dressings. The south side of brick and coursed rubble on ground-floor. Rendered on 1st floor. Stringcourse over ground-floor to north. Plain tiled roof, with 3 gables to north, decorative with steps, quarter-circles and lunettes surmounting. Large stepped gable to west. Three chimney-breasts with tall stacks on south side. 2 storeys; regular 3 window 1st floor to north, mullioned and transom windows of rubbed brick to resemble stone, under each north side gable. 2 blocked windows of similar type on 1st floor of west end. Irregular fenestration of ground-floor of north front and on south front. C20 boarded and rubbed door in moulded surround to right of west facade. Interior: collar-purlin roof with crown-posts, modified and re-used at east end of block. Linenfold panelling in one 1st floor room, a stone chimney-piece in another, its lintel covered with arabesques and 2 squirrels below blackbird in cherry. West drawing room; large fireplace with bressumer. Wall: attached at west end of north side. C16 in origin, but much patched later. Coursed rubble stone below, red and blue brick above, on probable site of courtyard screen wall. 6 ft high and 30 yds long. Remains of blocked gateway visible in centre. House probably built by William Clarke, to whom there is a brass dated 1611 in Wrotham Church. Forde passed to the Bartholomew and Geary families of West Peckham in the eighteenth century, at which time it was relegated to farmhouse status and sold. Restored, after semi-dereliction, in the 1920's, it is now divided into 2 properties. Listing NGR: TQ6076359294 (6)

Archive material (7)

<1> OS 6" 1936 (OS Card Reference). SKE48337.

<2> F1 CFW 26-FEB-64 (OS Card Reference). SKE42770.

<3> DOE (HHR) Dist of Tonbridge & Malling Kent May 1984 27 28 29 (OS Card Reference). SKE40393.

<4> Bldgs of Eng W Kent & the Weald 1980 619 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE37933.

<5> Field report for monument TQ 65 NW 24 - February, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE3361.

<6> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

<7> Historic England archive material associated with Ford Place (Archive). SKE53844.

Sources and further reading