Exploring Kent's Past

It should not be assumed that this site is publicly accessible and it may be on private property. Do not trespass.

Monument details

Summary

The monument includes the remains of the medieval College of St Gregory and St Martin at Wye, founded in 1447 and situated adjacent to what is now the High Street.

Monument Types

• COLLEGE (Medieval to Unknown - 1432 AD)

Full description

If you do not understand anything on this page please contact us.

From the National Heritage List for England:
The monument includes the remains of the medieval College of St Gregory and St Martin at Wye, founded in 1447 and situated adjacent to what is now the High Street. The college survives in the form of standing buildings and buried remains. The standing buildings are Listed at Grades I, II and II*, and all are excluded from the scheduling. The buried remains survive beneath the college buildings and in areas of open space within the monument. These are included in the scheduling. The medieval college building is in the form of a cloister quadrangle where pupils and masters lived and studied and lies to the east of the churchyard. Outbuildings are known to have stood to the east and north of the quadrangle, although these are no longer visible at ground level. The free grammar school was held in the small building to the south of the main college. This was
known as the Old Latin School, its purpose being to teach the children of the village Latin and grammar. The main entrance to the college was to the east of the Latin School, guarded by a porter's lodge. The Old Latin School and the porter's lodge have survived almost intact as part of the modern Wye Agricultural College.
In February 1432, Cardinal John Kempe applied for, and obtained from Henry VI, licence to found a college for secular priests at Wye. The foundation of the college was, however, delayed by negotiations with the Abbot of Battle Abbey from whom he wished to purchase land at Wye on which to build the college. The foundation of the college, therefore, did not take place until 1447, with the college being given the same dedication as the parish church - to St Gregory and St Martin. The number of pupils appears to have varied, although the maximum is known to have been ten. It is recorded that in c.1535 the gross income of the college was 125 pounds, 15 shillings and fourpence halfpenny. After the Dissolution, the college and all its possessions, which included the manors of Perycourte and Surrenden as
well as the rectory and advowson of the vicarage of Broomhill, were
surrendered to the Crown Commissioners. This took place on January 19th 1545, and they were subsequently sold to Walter Bucler, the secretary to Queen Catherine Parr, for 200 pounds on condition that he should `at all times provide and maintain a sufficient school master to teach gratis any children of Wye who should present themselves to him'. However, by 1627 the original conditions were not being met and the estate became vested in the Crown once again, until Charles I granted the college and its possessions to Robert Maxwell Esq. In 1762, as part of Lady Joanna Thornhill's School, the college entered its most prosperous period, with 40 boarders and over 100 day pupils. In 1889 it was sold as a private school, and in 1892 Kent and Surrey Councils combined to establish the South Eastern Agricultural College on the site. The modern college buildings were constructed in 1893-5, 1901, 1903-6 and 1912-14, although this programme of work was not completed until 1928. Various architects were employed, including P B Chambers, T E Colcutt and S Hamp. The 15th century Wheel Room was restored and extended early this century and is now a college common room. The Latin School was partly refaced in red brick, the first floor of the cloister quadrangle was rebuilt in brick, and its timber pentice replaced in c.1740. The Old Latin School and the college cloister quadrangle are both Listed Grade I, while the Wheel Room is a Grade II* Listed Building, and the surrounding modern college buildings are all Listed Grade II. Since all these structures are in constant use for teaching and accommodation, they are all excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath all the buildings is
included in the scheduling, as are all areas maintained as gardens. The surfaces of all paths running through the gardens, the metal arches used in the pergola and for other climbing plants in the southern garden, plant labels used in the gardens, and any service trenches or their access points beneath ground surface in the gardens or beneath the buildings are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath and around all these features is included in the scheduling.

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

Nicola Bannister, 1995, Wye College Estate Historic Landscape Survey: Two Volumes (Unpublished document). SKE13311.

Sources and further reading