Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A historic building report on the gardens of Surrenden House by Kent Gardens Trust in June 2013 noted the potential historic significance of Surrenden House, its Garden and its owners.

The House is a Grade II listed building (See MKE23383).

Monument Types

• PARK (Post Medieval to Unknown - 1621 AD?)
• MANOR HOUSE (Post Medieval - 1850 AD? to 1859 AD?)

Full description

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A historic building report on Surrenden House by Kent Gardens Trust in June 2013 noted the potential historic significance of Surrenden House, its Garden and its owners.

The site shows evidence of 18th-20th Century layouts and was initially occupied by the Derings (a family of considerable local importance).

The report details the historical importance of the site as follows:
"Age, rarity and survival: The site exhibits evidence of C17, C18, C19 and late C20 layouts and provides a contemporary setting for the present grade II listed house, the remaining portion of an 1850’s rebuild by the architect William Burn.
Aesthetic value: The pleasure grounds contain several surviving mature ornamental trees, their size suggesting a C18 planting date.
Historic association: The Dering family, occupiers since 1480, were of considerable local standing and, after 1600, national figures as members of parliament.
The place has strong associations with American cultural and political activity in late C19 and early C20; it was visited by Henry James and is the setting for Gore Vidal’s novel ‘Empire’.
Evidential value: Significant surviving features include extensive mid C19 terracing and ha-ha surrounding the southern sides of the burnt down house. Retaining walls and balustrading built over the foundations of the C17 to mid C19 house, evidence of water control systems and C19 below-surface vaulting, the last housing a complete late C20 grotto.
The site’s C18 deerpark (of C17 origins) survives, defined by at least 2km of surviving sections of its wall. Within the park are the remains of a further ha-ha, the main C18 entrance to the house, remains of an ice house and deer gates.
The walls of the C18 and C19 kitchen gardens of the estate still survive."
(1)

The House is a Grade II listed building (See MKE23383).

There is a reference to parkland in a document of 1621 (2)

<1> Kent Gardens Trust, 2013, Surrenden, Sevenoaks: The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens (Unpublished document). SKE30621.

<2> Susan Pittman, 2011, Elizabethan and Jacobean Deer Parks in Kent (Monograph). SKE32115.

Sources and further reading