Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade I listed building. Main construction periods 1378 to 1655. Remains of castle dating to 1377 and reduced to ruins c 1840; ruins of a 17th century house attached. Scotney Castle was situated on an island in a lake-like moat which was separated from the River Bewl to the south by a narrow embankment. Entrance to it was from the north by a drawbridge first to another island and then by a defended bridge connecting the two islands.The castle is similar in form to Bodium Castle - a fortified house surrounded by a large moat. The old castle itself was pulled down in the Elizabethan period and an Elizabethan House was built on the site. This again has fallen into ruins, except for a small fragment which is lived in by the bailiff. Single surviving Medieval round tower has an Elizabethan dwelling house built onto it. Much of this is roofed and furnished, but it is not occupied. Adjoining it is a completely roofless ruined area, maintained as a sort of garden feature. Base of stone curtain and trace of towers also survive but part of the circuit has a later brick wall built on top of it.

Images

Monument Types

• HOUSE (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1378 AD to 1699 AD?)
• MOAT (Medieval to Modern - 1378 AD to 2050 AD)
• QUADRANGULAR CASTLE (Medieval to Modern - 1378 AD to 2050 AD)
• PRIEST HOLE? (Post Medieval - 1580 AD? to 1600 AD?)
• HOUSE (Post Medieval to Modern - 1837 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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The following text is from the original listed building designation:
LAMBERHURST SCOTNEY TQ 63 NE 3/224 The Ruins of Old Scotney Castle 20.10.54 GV I
Castle, now partly ruinous. 1378, altered C16 and early C17. Sandstone, timber framing, rendered, and red brick, largely in English bond. Plain tiled roofs. The ruins lie on the innermost of two islands in the River Teise, and are reached by a stone causeway, the whole island bordered by red brick and stone walls, all of which are included in this item. Castle founded by Roger Ashburnham 1378-80, the principal remnant of this phase is the round machicolated tower, attached to C16 domestic building, with good interior features, especially enriched C17 stair. Ruins to east of large and ambitious extension of c.1635, and showing advanced, if crude use of classical motifs and proportions. The castle, and especially the C17 wing, was carefully partly dismantled by Edward Hussey on the building of his new house overlooking this site, creating one of the last and greatest picturesque landscaped gardens. The castle is now in the hands of the National Trust, and is fully described in their guide book, and in B.O.E. Kent, I, 506-7. Listing NGR: TQ6873635366 (15)

Description from record TQ 63 NE 1 :
[TQ 68953525] Scotney Castle [GT] (rems of) [TI] (1) Scotney Castle was situated on an island in a lake-like moat which was separated from the River Bewl to the south by a narrow embankment. Entrance to it was from the north by a drawbridge first to another island and then by a defended bridge connecting the two islands. The castle was reduced to ruins about 1840 and only one of four corner towers, (dating from 1377), of the enceinte wall, the doorway of another, the lower part of the entrance gateway, and some fragments of old walls, remain. There are also the ruins of a house said to have been built by Inigo Jones. The uninhabited parts of Scotney Castle are scheduled as an ancient monument. [See plan - illust card (3)] (2-5) Scotney Castle is as described above. The castle ruins and the moat are well preserved. The property is open to the public on certain days of the year. Published survey (25" 1938-47) correct. (6) No change. (7) TQ 689353. Scotney Castle. The castle is of the same type as its neighbour Bodium, being a fortified house surrounded by a large moat. The old castle itself was pulled down in the Elizabethan period and an Elizabethan House was built on the site. This again has fallen into ruins, except for a small fragment which is lived in by the bailiff. Single surviving Medieval round tower has an Elizabethan dwelling house built onto it. Much of this is roofed and furnished, but it is not occupied. Adjoining it is a completely roofless ruined area, maintained as a sort of garden feature. Base of stone curtain and trace of towers also survive but part of the circuit has a later brick wall built on top of it. To the south of the principal moated area are two further islands. The more northerly still has stone abutments for the original wooden bridge and there are two fragments of ivy covered stonework still standing. The island is otherwise grass covered with a few conifers etc. (8) TQ 689353. Scheduled listing. (9) Scotney consists of the fragment of a 14th c moated castle in the valley with a 17th c house attached, and a new house built on the hill for Edward Hussey in 1837-44. (10) Ruins Listed Grade I. (11)

During groundwork to locate a leak in the moat bank, two small areas of excavation were undertaken. The moat bank was considered to comprise of two discrete deposits. The upper deposit was unstable and exhibited downslope slumping, the lower deposits were homogenous and stable. Underlying strata was found to be of alluvial clay. No significant artefacts were recovered, and it was considered that the bank may well have shrunk in height since the last episode of constructional landscaping.(14)

From the National Heritage List for England:

The monument includes three adjacent islands set in a moat within a former loop of the River Bewl. On the more northerly island are the remains of a quadrangular castle built around 1377-80 for Roger Ashburnham, of which one, round, corner tower (roofed and incorporated within the 16th century wing of a manor house), sections of the curtain wall and the base of the gatehouse are still standing. These remains are Listed Grade I. The second island lies to the south west and was originally connected to the main island by a defensible bridge. This ancillary island supported stables and other service buildings, now surviving as ruins and buried remains. Nothing is recorded on the third island, apart from some recent statuary, however it is suggested that this island may be more recent. Old Scotney Castle has an unusual arrangement, because most castles of this type were constructed on a single, moated island.

The castle was extensively remodelled in the late 16th and early 17th centuries to form a stone and half-timbered manorial residence, of which the south wing survives as a roofed building and is in use as a museum. The remainder of the castle and its outbuildings on the second island were landscaped into ruins and gardens when the new Scotney Castle was built on an overlooking hillside to the north west for Edward Hussey in c.1840. At this time, parts of the manor house range were taken down in such a way as to retain features of decorative interest and to increase the romantic character of the scene. Some brick-built, garden walling survives from this phase, and the third, small island, on which a Henry Moore sculpture is now sited, may also originate from the 19th century landscaping. In recent years, the gatehouse has been rebuilt, and a modern brick buttress inserted inside the north west corner of the ruined wing of the manor house. A lean-to, one-storey store has also been built against a free-standing wall of the ruined wing. Excluded from the scheduling are, on the main island, the roofed, south wing of the manor house, currently used as a museum and best protected by listing; the three modern walls of the single storey, lean-to building built against a freestanding wall of the ruined portion of the manor house; the surfaces of the modern paths and the imported well-head ornament and other imported statuary; the Henry Moore sculpture and its plinth on the most south westerly island is also excluded, although the ground beneath all these features is included.
A quadrangular castle is a strongly fortified residence built of stone, or sometimes brick, around a square or rectangular courtyard. The outer walls formed a defensive line, frequently with towers sited on the corners and occasionally in intermediate positions as well. Some of the very strongly defended examples have additional external walls. Ditches, normally wet but sometimes dry, were also found outside the walls. Two main types of quadrangular castle have been identified. In the southern type, the angle and intermediate mural towers were most often round in plan and projected markedly from the enclosing wall. In the northern type, square angle towers, often of massive proportions, were constructed, these projecting only slightly from the main wall. Within the castle, accommodation was provided in the towers or in buildings set against the walls which opened onto the central courtyard. An important feature of quadrangular castles was that they were planned and built to an integrated, often symmetrical, design. Once built, therefore, they did not lend themselves easily to modification. The earliest and finest examples of this class of castle are found in Wales, dating from 1277, but they also began to appear in England at the same time. Most examples were built in the 14th century but the tradition extended into the 15th century. Later examples demonstrate an increasing emphasis on domestic comfort to the detriment of defence and, indeed, some late examples are virtually defenceless. They provided residences for the king or leading families and occur in both rural and urban situations. Quadrangular castles are widely dispersed throughout England with a slight concentration in Kent and Sussex protecting a vulnerable coastline and routes to London. Other concentrations are found in the north near the Scottish border and also in the west on the Welsh border. They are rare nationally with only 64 recorded examples of which 44 are of southern type and 20 are of northern type. Considerable diversity of form is exhibited with no two examples being exactly alike. With other types of castle, they are major medieval monument types which, belonging to the highest levels of society, frequently acted as major administrative centres and formed the foci for developing settlement patterns. Castles generally provide an emotive and evocative link to the past and can provide a valuable educational resource, both with respect to medieval warfare and defence, and to wider aspects of medieval society. All examples retaining significant remains of medieval date are considered to be of national importance.

Old Scotney Castle is a good example of an earlier, medieval monument adapted as a manorial residence in the Tudor period, and as landscaped ruins in the Victorian period. Despite some disturbance by modern gardening and landscaping, it survives well. Although few of the buildings of the quadrangular castle remain upstanding, much of their original extent will survive below ground in buried form. These remains will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. More of the manor house remains upstanding, and one wing, a Grade I Listed Building, survives almost intact. The adaptation of the typical manor house form of the Tudor period to fit within the confines of the quadrangular castle is of architectural interest. The transformation of the old castle remains and Tudor manor house in the early Victorian period into a picturesque ruin within a landscaped garden visible from the new country house, is also of interest. It offers a good and late example of the widespread 18th and early 19th century phenomenon of Romantic Antiquarianism - the creation of an attractive, managed `wilderness' around the focus of a deliberately ruined building. (15)

In 2008, as part of a programme of repairs, a survey of the structure was undertaken. A detailed historical background and architectural description was produced. A possible priest hole was recorded above the chimney flue of the kitchen. It was located above a smoking compartment and was accessed from a trapdoor in a secret area under the eaves. It could have been for Richard Blount, a Catholic priest who was based at Scotney Castle in the late 16th century. (16)

A detailed account of the castle's development and history has been published. (17-18)

<1> OS 6" 1961 (OS Card Reference). SKE48369.

<2> Castles of Eng 1 1897 85-8 (plan) (JD Mackenzie) (OS Card Reference). SKE38627.

<3> Arch Cant 17 1887 38-48 (plan illust) (E Hussey) (OS Card Reference). SKE34761.

<4> Country Life 6-SEP-1956 470 illus (C Hussey) (OS Card Reference). SKE39450.

<5> AM Eng and Wales 1958 46 (OS Card Reference). SKE33012.

<6> F1 ASP 29-JAN-63 (OS Card Reference). SKE42344.

<7> F2 ASP 22-OCT-69 (OS Card Reference). SKE43153.

<8> DOE(IAM) Record Form 1986 (OS Card Reference). SKE41439.

<9> DOE(IAM) SAMS 1988 Kent 25 (OS Card Reference). SKE41455.

<10> Builds of Eng W Kent and the Weald 1980 506-508 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE38426.

<11> Field report for monument TQ 63 NE 1 - January, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE3203.

<12> Field report for monument TQ 63 NE 1 - October, 1969 (Bibliographic reference). SKE3204.

<13> DNH List 10-Oct-1989 (OS Card Reference). SKE39774.

<14> Archaeology South-East, 2008, An Archaeological Watching Brief on the Moat Bank at Old Scotney Castle, Lamberhurst, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE15643.

<15> English Heritage, Register of Scheduled Monuments (Scheduling record). SKE16191.

<16> Archaeology South-East, 2008, An Archaeological Interpretative Survey of The Old Castle, Scotney, Lamberhurst, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE18053.

<17> Martin, D., Martin, B and Clubb, J., 2011, An archaeological interpretative survey of the Old Castle, Scotney, Lamberhurst: Part I - The medieval period, Archaeologia Cantiana CXXXI 2011: 321-43 (Article in serial). SKE25114.

<18> Martin, D., Martin, B and Clubb, J., 2012, An archaeological interpretative survey of the Old Castle, Scotney, Lamberhurst: Part II, Archaeologia Cantiana CXXXI 2011: 321-43 (Article in serial). SKE25115.

Sources and further reading

Related records

Related thematic articles

• Kent's Castles (Thematic Essay)
• Medieval Kent (Thematic Essay)