Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade II* listed building. Main construction periods 1570 to 1999. Country house - 1621. Red brick construction on a red brick plinth. Also a 17th century dovecote in red brick with pyramidal tiled roof and a diagonally-set louvred cupola over. Bracketted eaves forming entrance for pigeons to loft.

Monument Types

• HOUSE (Post Medieval to Modern - 1570 AD to 2050 AD)
• DOVECOTE (DOVECOTE, Post Medieval to Modern - 1600 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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Description from record TQ 65 NW 28 :
[TQ 61165908] Wrotham Place [NAT] (1) Name plate: Wrotham Place. A find large early 17c. brick-built mansion. Within the porch the date 1621 is inscribed, and this date has also been found during the present internal renovating on the back of some wood panelling in an upper room, according to Mr. Beasley, the caretaker. The house has been empty for several years but is soon to be inhabited again as a private residence. It is of two storeys with attics, built of brick with stone dressings. The string courses and decorative chimneys are of moulded brick and the windows are of stone with mullions and transoms. Attic dormer windows are later. Roofs are of red tiles. Modern additions adjoin the SW corner and west end, linking up the mansion with a probably contemporary outbuilding to the north. It is partly half-timbered and stone, partly early brick. There is a decorative moulded brick cove along the east side. There are large external chimneys, but all windows are modern replacements. To the south-east is a 17thc dovecote, now roofless and overgrown, square-in plan, built of brick. NE of the house is a single-storey building of 17thc date, probably stables but now used as a store. Connecting this building and other outbuilding to the N. of the house is a brick boundary wall, average height 2.5m, also of 17th c. date. GP's./AO/59/187/8 Mansion from South: 188/1 from SE: 188/2 Dovecot from SW: 188/3 Cottage from East: 188/4 Mansion from North.(2) Checked and correct. (3) TQ 65NW28||TQ 6059-6159 WROTHAM C.P. HIGH STREET (south side) 7/28 1.8.52 Wrotham Place GV II* House. Circa 1590 with alterations of C19. South front. Red brick on red brick plinth. Rendered dressings on ground-floor, quoins and 1st floor dressings of ashlar. Band of diagonally inserted bricks. Parapet, added during C19, to plain tiled roof. 4 stacks (1 triple and 1 single) at right-hand end, 2 off-ridge in centre, 1 stan-shaped moulded brick stack off-ridge at left-hand end. 1 double-stack with projecting breast on front, attached to left of central gabled frontispiece. 2 dormers, 1 at each end of roof. 2 storeys and attics; 3 storeys to frontispiece. 2 large windows at mid-storey level to right of frontispeice. Large 6-light mullioned window to right, 8 light transom and mullioned window to left, with pointed-arched doorway with boarded and ribbed door below to left. Tall 3-centred arch on ground-floor of frontispiece with tall wooden-mullioned window behind and curious recess partly blocked by right-hand support of arch. Another recess in base of chimney-breast to left. 10-light transom and mullion window on first-floor of frontispiece, 3-light mullion window on 2nd floor, both over arch. C19 block to left. Red and blue brick with ashlar quoins and dressings. Plain tiled roof with bracketted gutters and doubled west-end stack. L-shaped. Parapet copings to gables, kneelers only on gable to east. South gable part stepped, part pitched. ashlar bands over brick plinth, over ground-floor and at cornice-level. 2 storeys; 1 window range to each face. Heavily moulded drips-stones over very large transom and mullion windows on ground-floor to right. 1 blobrick on red brick plinth. Rendered dressings on ground-floor, quoins and first-floor dressings of ashlar. Diapon patterning of grey bricks between ground and 1st floors. Parapet to plain tiles roof with 2 dormers, left and right of centre. 3 storeys; 5 windows front, transom and mullion windows with metal casements. Projecting 3-storey gabled square bays in 1st, 3rd and 5th bays, that to right projecting further with entrance below. Panelled top glazed doors in arched and moulded surrounds. Stone coat-of-arms above, C20. Small courtyard to right of block formed by C19 extensions. 1-storey red brick extension with plain titled roof, in line with main, older, stable building to north. The pair joined by brick arch. Interior. Hall: ribbed ceiling. Cornice with mottoes, early C20. East drawing room: large stone fireplace with 4-centred arch and rose and strap-work decoration. 2 first-floor panelled rooms, one with pilaster decoration, probably Edwardian. TQ6059-6159 WROTHAM P.C. HIGH STREET (south side) 7/20 1.8.52 Stable building 10 yards to the north of Wrotham Place GV II Stable. C17. West front. Random rubble stone and some brick to left, timber-framed with brick infill to right. Plain tiled roof. Large brick chimney breast to right, with blocked doorway further to right 2 storeys: 4 window 1st floor, 3 window ground-floor. South front. Timber-framing exposed with plaster infill on random rubble and brick plinth. East front. Red brick with plinth, rebuilt in C20. Wide projecting chimney breast with double stack to left. Brick eaves of diagonally inserted bricks. 2 storeys; 2 windows, casements. 2 blocked windows to right with C20 window inserted over. North front. Crow-stepped gable to roof.
TQ6059-6159 WROTHAM HIGH STREET (south side) 7/30 1.8.52 Stable-building 80 yards north-east of Wrotham Place GV II Stable building. C17. Red brick, plain tiled roof, hipped to south with 2 dormers to west. 2 windows to west, stone mullioned casements. Brick triangular gable to north. C20 alterations including re-fenestration, to east.
TQ6059-6159 WROTHAM C.P. HIGH STREET (south side) 7/31 1.8.52 Wall, gate and gatepiers 20 yards to north of Wrotham Place GV II Wall. C17, patched later. Linking stable-buildings north-east and north-west of Wrotham Place. Red brick on wide plinth, laid in English bond with some header bond. Sloping brick coping and parapet. 4 ft high rising to 5 ft at east end. Gateway off-centre to right with small piers surmounted by globes. Edwardian Baroque wrought-iron gates. C.1910.
Wrotham Place. Two-third of an Elizabethan mansion, of red brick with stone dressings, much tampered with in the 19th century. Stone doorway on the south side and the porch doorway, which has a continuous hollow and a sunk quadrant, must be re-used 15th century pieces. At the left end of the south front a 19th century projections, which Mr. J.T. Smith suggests may replace a timber-framed building on the north side of the now almost independent 17th century block beside it, with a gable of the same blunted form as those on the north side. Interior-the fireplace in the east room is original. One panelled upper room with a simple overmantel of c.1600. the date 1621, boldly painted over the front door in the 19th century, must be too late. Mr Smith points out that the range of mid 17th century outbuildings, having two original chimney stacks, formed a second inhabited house. Within its south end a small timber-framed building, perhaps of the early 16th century. Full architectural account of Wrotham Place exterior. (4)

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
TQ6059-6159 WROTHAM C.P. HIGH STREET 7/28 (south side) 1.8.52 Wrotham Place GV II*
House. Circa 1590 with alterations of C19. South front. Red brick on red brick plinth. Rendered dressings on ground-floor, quoins and 1st floor dressings of ashlar. Band of diagonally inserted bricks. Parapet, added during C19, to plain tiled roof. 4 stacks (1 triple and 1 single) it right-hand end, 2 off-ridge in centre, 1 stan-shaped moulded brick stack off-ridge at left-hand end. 1 double-stack with projecting breast on front, attached to left of central gabled frontispiece. 2 dormers, 1 at each end of roof. 2 storeys and attics; 3 storeys to frontispiece. 2 large windows at mid-storey level to right of frontispiece. Large 6-light mullioned window to right, 8 light transom and mullioned window to left, with pointed-arched doorway with boarded and ribbed door below to left. Tall 3-centred arch on ground-floor of frontispiece with tall wooden-mullioned window behind and curious recess partly blocked by right-hand support of arch. Another recess in base of chimney-breast to left. 10-light transom and mullion window on first-floor of frontispiece, 3-light mullion window on 2nd floor, both over arch. C19 block to left. Red and blue brick with ashlar quoins and dressings. Plain tiled roof with bracketted gutters and doubled west-end stack. L-shaped. Parapet copings to gables, kneelers only on gable to east. South gable part stepped, part pitched. Ashlar bands over brick plinth, over ground-floor and at cornice-level. 2 storeys; 1 window range to each face. Heavily moulded drip-stones over very large transom and mullion windows on ground-floor to right. 1 blocked window in attic of south gable. North front. Red brick on red brick plinth. Rendered dressings on ground-floor, quoins and first-floor dressings of ashlar. Diapon patterning of grey bricks between ground and 1st floors. Parapet to plain tiled roof with 2 dormers, left and right of centre. 3 storeys; 5 window front, transom and mullion windows with metal casements. Projecting 3-storey gabled square bays in 1st, 3rd and 5th bays, that to right projecting further with entrance below. Panelled top glazed doors in arched and moulded surrounds. Stone coat-of-arms above, C20. Small courtyard to right of block formed by Cl9 extensions. 1-storey red brick extension with plain tiled roof, in line with main, older, stable building to north. The pair joined by brick arch. Interior. Hall: ribbed ceiling. Cornice with mottoes, early C20. East drawing room: large stone fireplace with 4-centred arch and rose and strap-work decoration. 2 first-floor panelled rooms, one with pilaster decoration, probably Edwardian. Listing NGR: TQ6116059081 (7)

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

<2> F1 ASP 25-JUN-59 (OS Card Reference). SKE42284.

<3> F2 FGA 27-FEB-64 (OS Card Reference). SKE43336.

<4> Bldgs of Eng W Kent & the Weald 1980 618 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE37932.

<5> Field report for monument TQ 65 NW 28 - June, 1959 (Bibliographic reference). SKE3366.

<6> Field report for monument TQ 65 NW 28 - February, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE3367.

<7> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

Sources and further reading