Linton Park
Encyclopedia
Linton Park, formerly Linton Place or Linton Hall, is a large 18th-century country house in Linton
, Kent
, England. Built by Robert Mann in 1730 to replace an earlier building, the house and estate passed through the ownership of several members of Mann's family before coming into the Cornwallis family. The house was enlarged to its current size in 1825.
The house sits in a prominent location, part way down a south-facing slope which provides excellent views of the grounds and the Weald
beyond. Gardens close to the house contain formal walks laid out in 1825 with specimen trees planted then and later.
The house is a Grade I listed building and the garden and park is listed Grade II*. Other buildings and structures in the park are also listed.
. Wythen's daughter, Catherine, inherited the estate and, following her second marriage to Brigadier-General Sir George Jocelyn, the estate was sold to London merchant Sir Robert Mann.
Around 1730, Mann demolished Capell's Court and built the first part of the present house. On his death in 1751, the house passed to his son Edward Mann. Edward Mann died in 1775 without children and the house passed to his brother the diplomat Sir Horace Mann
. Sir Horace had taken the name of the estate as his territorial designation
when made a baronet
in 1755, but was permanently resident in Florence
. Sir Horace Mann was a friend and long-time correspondent of Horace Walpole. After a visit to Edward Mann at Linton Park in 1757, Walpole wrote to Sir Horace in Florence that: "the house is fine and stands like the citadel of Kent; the whole county is its garden." On the death of Sir Horace in 1786, the baronetcy and the house passed to his nephew, Sir Horatio Mann MP, of Boughton Place
in nearby Boughton Malherbe
.
Sir Horatio died in 1814 and the house was inherited by the Reverend James Cornwallis
, Bishop of Lichfield
, who was the widowed husband of Mann's older sister, Catherine. Reverend Cornwallis became the fourth Earl Cornwallis
on the death of his nephew Charles Cornwallis, 2nd Marquess Cornwallis
in 1823, but died himself in 1824. The estate passed to his son James
, the fifth Earl. On the fifth Earl's death in 1852, the property was inherited by his daughter Julia. In 1862, she married William Amherst, Viscount Holmesdale (later, after her death in 1883, the third Earl Amherst
).
By 1888, the estate was in the possession of Fiennes Stanley Wykeham Cornwallis
MP (created 1st Baron Cornwallis in 1927), grandson of the fifth Earl Cornwallis's other daughter Jemima Isabella Mann. He owned the house until his death in 1935. His first son, Captain Fiennes Wykeham Mann Cornwallis MC
, was killed in an IRA
ambush near Gort
, Galway
in 1921, so the first baron was succeeded by his second son, Wykeham Stanley Cornwallis
. The second baron sold the house in 1937 and it became the property of Olaf Hambro, a member of the Hambro banking family
. Following the death of Hambro in 1961, the house was sold to the Daubeny family. The house and its nearest surrounding land were sold to the Freemasons
in 1974 and were briefly operated as a school before passing into corporate ownership.
wide with a break front. This was extended for the fifth Earl Cornwallis in 1825 by Thomas
and William Cubitt
. The Cubitts' alterations included adding a third storey to the original house and building two-storey wings four bays wide on each side. The house was also refinished with stucco render
. Its hipped roof
is covered with slates.
The entrance to the house is on the north side through a single storey portico
. The north façade features tall sash window
s on the ground and first floors of 12 panes; the second floor windows to the central section are shorter and of nine panes. moulded
stucco cornice
s run above the ground and first floor windows. The east and west façades are five bays wide with a two-storey projecting bay on the east end and a single-storey projecting bay on the west end.
Due to the slope of the site, the south façade, which overlooks the main part of the grounds, stands on a raised and terraced platform with the ground floor raised to first floor level and the basement becoming the ground floor. Above the terrace, the façade has the same general arrangement as the north façade, but the wings project slightly past the central section, which has a two-storey pediment
ed portico. Each wing previously had a single-storey bay at its centre but these have been removed.
Internally, a number of rooms feature period wall and ceiling decorations including the entrance hall, which dates from the original 1730s building and features moulded panelling and cornices, a marble fireplace and ornamental plaster ceiling and an arabesque frieze
. The stairwell is lit from above with a roof light and features a cantilever
ed stair with iron balusters from the 1825 adaptation with a later brass handrail.
To the north-east of the house is the estate's former stable building. This was built around the time of the fifth Earl's extension of the house and is aligned on a north-south axis. The building comprises three three-storey gable
-fronted pavilions separated by a pair of two-storey wings. The façades are of brick, with the west façade painted white and the east unpainted. The roof is of slate with a clock tower in the centre of the east side of the central pavilion. Close to the stables is an underground brick-built ice house accessed by a vaulted tunnel. The ice house dates from 1788.
The main house is a Grade I listed building and the stables and ice house are listed Grade II.
slope overlooking the valley of the River Beult
. Although now simplified without the intensive planting used in earlier centuries, elements remain of the formal gardens designed by John Claudius Loudon
in 1825 that were previously arranged on the north, south-east, south and west sides of the house.
Immediately to the south of the house is a wide 100 metres (328.1 ft) long terrace with a stone balustrade. From the centre of this, aligned with the central portico of the house, stone steps descend in three flights over grass covered terraces to an oval lawn around the perimeter of which runs a gravel path and from which paths run to the east and west. In the centre of the lawn is a sundial
. A wide lawn to the south-east of the house is ringed by paths and divided by another on a north-south access. This is interrupted by flights of steps and a fountain pond. Two small temples are positioned amongst trees part way down the slope.
To the west of the house Loudon laid out a flower garden. Later in the 1860s this was replanted with roses, but it is now lawns. At the south end of a walkway through this section of the garden is a water and rock garden known as "Jacobs Well". From the north end of the walk an avenue of giant sequoia
s planted in 1864 runs north-west towards the parish church of St Nicholas. Other Giant Sequoia are planted around the gardens. Close to the church, at the end of a paved walk is a small Gothic
folly
. South of the avenue is a grass amphitheatre
cut into the slope. The southern perimeter of the formal garden is formed by a Ha-Ha. To the south, beyond the formal gardens, the steepness of the slope reduces and the estate continues as open parkland with a tree-fringed lake about 500 metres (1,640.4 ft) south of the house.
The gardens and parkland are listed Grade II*, with a number of features in the garden also individually listed for their group value with the house and park. The north lodge, the steps to the south of the house, the sundial on the oval lawn and the folly are all listed Grade II.
The estate is private property and is not open to the public, but the Greensand Way
long distance walk crosses the parkland east-west to the north of the house and a public footpath crosses the southern parkland close to the lake on a similar alignment.
Linton, Kent
Linton is a village and civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England. The parish is located on the southward slope of the Greensand ridge, south of Maidstone on the A229 Hastings road....
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England. Built by Robert Mann in 1730 to replace an earlier building, the house and estate passed through the ownership of several members of Mann's family before coming into the Cornwallis family. The house was enlarged to its current size in 1825.
The house sits in a prominent location, part way down a south-facing slope which provides excellent views of the grounds and the Weald
Weald
The Weald is the name given to an area in South East England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It should be regarded as three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the centre; the clay "Low Weald" periphery; and the Greensand Ridge which...
beyond. Gardens close to the house contain formal walks laid out in 1825 with specimen trees planted then and later.
The house is a Grade I listed building and the garden and park is listed Grade II*. Other buildings and structures in the park are also listed.
History
From the late 14th century, a house by the name of Capell's Court stood on the site of Linton Park. It took its name from a family of local landowners named de Capell who held the property from the late 14th century to the mid 15th century. It was then sold to Baysden family who held it until the late 16th century, when it was sold to Sir Anthony Mayney. Mayney's grandson sold the estate to the judge Sir Francis WythenFrancis Wythens
Sir Francis Wythens SL KC was a British judge and politician.-Life:Born to William Wythens and his wife Frances King, Wythens matriculated at St John's College, Oxford on 13 November 1650 before joining the Middle Temple on 27 November 1654...
. Wythen's daughter, Catherine, inherited the estate and, following her second marriage to Brigadier-General Sir George Jocelyn, the estate was sold to London merchant Sir Robert Mann.
Around 1730, Mann demolished Capell's Court and built the first part of the present house. On his death in 1751, the house passed to his son Edward Mann. Edward Mann died in 1775 without children and the house passed to his brother the diplomat Sir Horace Mann
Sir Horace Mann, 1st Baronet
Sir Horace Mann, 1st Baronet KB , diplomat, was a long standing British resident in Florence.-Biography:...
. Sir Horace had taken the name of the estate as his territorial designation
Territorial designation
A territorial designation follows modern peerage titles, linking them to a specific place or places. It is also an integral part of all baronetcies...
when made a baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
in 1755, but was permanently resident in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
. Sir Horace Mann was a friend and long-time correspondent of Horace Walpole. After a visit to Edward Mann at Linton Park in 1757, Walpole wrote to Sir Horace in Florence that: "the house is fine and stands like the citadel of Kent; the whole county is its garden." On the death of Sir Horace in 1786, the baronetcy and the house passed to his nephew, Sir Horatio Mann MP, of Boughton Place
Boughton Place
Boughton Place, formerly Bocton Place or Bocton Hall, is a country house in Boughton Malherbe, Kent, England. It is the historic home of the Wotton family and birthplace of Sir Henry Wotton , ambassador to Venice under James I....
in nearby Boughton Malherbe
Boughton Malherbe
For other "Boughtons" in Kent see Boughton under Blean; Boughton Malherbe; and Boughton MonchelseaBoughton Malherbe is a village and civil parish in the Maidstone district of Kent, England, situated between Maidstone and Ashford...
.
Sir Horatio died in 1814 and the house was inherited by the Reverend James Cornwallis
James Cornwallis, 4th Earl Cornwallis
James Cornwallis, 4th Earl Cornwallis was a British clergyman and peer.Cornwallis was the third son of Charles Cornwallis, 1st Earl Cornwallis and his wife, Elizabeth...
, Bishop of Lichfield
Bishop of Lichfield
The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 4,516 km² of the counties of Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West Midlands. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed...
, who was the widowed husband of Mann's older sister, Catherine. Reverend Cornwallis became the fourth Earl Cornwallis
Earl Cornwallis
Earl Cornwallis was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1753 for Charles Cornwallis, 5th Baron Cornwallis. The second Earl was created Marquess Cornwallis but this title became extinct in 1823, while the earldom and its subsidiary titles became extinct in 1852...
on the death of his nephew Charles Cornwallis, 2nd Marquess Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis, 2nd Marquess Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis, 2nd Marquess Cornwallis , styled Viscount Brome until 1805, was a British Tory politician....
in 1823, but died himself in 1824. The estate passed to his son James
James Mann, 5th Earl Cornwallis
James Mann, 5th Earl Cornwallis , known as James Cornwallis until 1814 and as James Mann between 1814 and 1823 and styled Viscount Brome between 1823 and 1824, was a British peer and Tory politician....
, the fifth Earl. On the fifth Earl's death in 1852, the property was inherited by his daughter Julia. In 1862, she married William Amherst, Viscount Holmesdale (later, after her death in 1883, the third Earl Amherst
Earl Amherst
Earl Amherst, of Arracan in the East Indies, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 19 December 1826 for William Amherst, 2nd Baron Amherst, the Governor-General of India. He was made Viscount Holmesdale, in the County of Kent, at the same time, also in the Peerage of...
).
By 1888, the estate was in the possession of Fiennes Stanley Wykeham Cornwallis
Fiennes Cornwallis, 1st Baron Cornwallis
Colonel Fiennes Stanley Wykeham Cornwallis, 1st Baron Cornwallis CBE, TD, JP, DL,, was a British Conservative politician.-Early life:...
MP (created 1st Baron Cornwallis in 1927), grandson of the fifth Earl Cornwallis's other daughter Jemima Isabella Mann. He owned the house until his death in 1935. His first son, Captain Fiennes Wykeham Mann Cornwallis MC
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
, was killed in an IRA
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
ambush near Gort
Gort
Gort is a town in south County Galway in the west of Ireland. An Gort is the official Irish name for the town, as defined by the Placenames Commission. In spoken Irish, however, the town is known by its traditional name Gort Inse Guaire. It lies just north of the border with County Clare on the...
, Galway
Galway
Galway or City of Galway is a city in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It is the sixth largest and the fastest-growing city in Ireland. It is also the third largest city within the Republic and the only city in the Province of Connacht. Located on the west coast of Ireland, it sits on the...
in 1921, so the first baron was succeeded by his second son, Wykeham Stanley Cornwallis
Wykeham Cornwallis, 2nd Baron Cornwallis
Colonel Wykeham Stanley Cornwallis, 2nd Baron Cornwallis KCVO, KBE, MC , was a British peer.-Background and education:...
. The second baron sold the house in 1937 and it became the property of Olaf Hambro, a member of the Hambro banking family
Hambros Bank
Hambros Bank was a British bank based in London. The Hambros bank was a specialist in Anglo-Scandinavian business with expertise in trade finance and investment banking, and was the sole banker to the Scandinavian kingdoms for many years...
. Following the death of Hambro in 1961, the house was sold to the Daubeny family. The house and its nearest surrounding land were sold to the Freemasons
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
in 1974 and were briefly operated as a school before passing into corporate ownership.
Buildings
Robert Mann's original 1730s house was a two-storey brick building seven baysBay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
wide with a break front. This was extended for the fifth Earl Cornwallis in 1825 by Thomas
Thomas Cubitt
Thomas Cubitt , born Buxton, Norfolk, was the leading master builder in London in the second quarter of the 19th century, and also carried out several projects in other parts of England.-Background:...
and William Cubitt
William Cubitt
Sir William Cubitt was an eminent English civil engineer and millwright. Born in Norfolk, England, he was employed in many of the great engineering undertakings of his time. He invented a type of windmill sail and the prison treadwheel, and was employed as chief engineer, at Ransomes of Ipswich,...
. The Cubitts' alterations included adding a third storey to the original house and building two-storey wings four bays wide on each side. The house was also refinished with stucco render
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
. Its hipped roof
Hip roof
A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
is covered with slates.
The entrance to the house is on the north side through a single storey portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
. The north façade features tall sash window
Sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels or "sashes" that form a frame to hold panes of glass, which are often separated from other panes by narrow muntins...
s on the ground and first floors of 12 panes; the second floor windows to the central section are shorter and of nine panes. moulded
Molding (decorative)
Molding or moulding is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster but may be made from plastic or reformed wood...
stucco cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
s run above the ground and first floor windows. The east and west façades are five bays wide with a two-storey projecting bay on the east end and a single-storey projecting bay on the west end.
Due to the slope of the site, the south façade, which overlooks the main part of the grounds, stands on a raised and terraced platform with the ground floor raised to first floor level and the basement becoming the ground floor. Above the terrace, the façade has the same general arrangement as the north façade, but the wings project slightly past the central section, which has a two-storey pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
ed portico. Each wing previously had a single-storey bay at its centre but these have been removed.
Internally, a number of rooms feature period wall and ceiling decorations including the entrance hall, which dates from the original 1730s building and features moulded panelling and cornices, a marble fireplace and ornamental plaster ceiling and an arabesque frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
. The stairwell is lit from above with a roof light and features a cantilever
Cantilever
A cantilever is a beam anchored at only one end. The beam carries the load to the support where it is resisted by moment and shear stress. Cantilever construction allows for overhanging structures without external bracing. Cantilevers can also be constructed with trusses or slabs.This is in...
ed stair with iron balusters from the 1825 adaptation with a later brass handrail.
To the north-east of the house is the estate's former stable building. This was built around the time of the fifth Earl's extension of the house and is aligned on a north-south axis. The building comprises three three-storey gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
-fronted pavilions separated by a pair of two-storey wings. The façades are of brick, with the west façade painted white and the east unpainted. The roof is of slate with a clock tower in the centre of the east side of the central pavilion. Close to the stables is an underground brick-built ice house accessed by a vaulted tunnel. The ice house dates from 1788.
The main house is a Grade I listed building and the stables and ice house are listed Grade II.
Park
Approached across parkland along a tree-lined drive from a lodge to the north, the house sits in a landscape of approximately 132 hectares (326.2 acre) of parkland, woodland and farmland part way down a south facing greensandGreensand
Greensand or Green sand is either a sand or sandstone, which has a greenish color. This term is specifically applied to shallow marine sediment, that contains noticeable quantities of rounded greenish grains. These grains are called glauconies and consist of a mixture of mixed-layer clay...
slope overlooking the valley of the River Beult
River Beult
The River Beult is a tributary of the River Medway. It has several sources west of Ashford, including one at Woodchurch. It then flows through Headcorn. At Hunton, above Yalding it is joined by the major stream of the River Teise. Town bridge lies 10¼ miles from Allington, it is the longest...
. Although now simplified without the intensive planting used in earlier centuries, elements remain of the formal gardens designed by John Claudius Loudon
John Claudius Loudon
John Claudius Loudon was a Scottish botanist, garden and cemetery designer, author and garden magazine editor.-Background:...
in 1825 that were previously arranged on the north, south-east, south and west sides of the house.
Immediately to the south of the house is a wide 100 metres (328.1 ft) long terrace with a stone balustrade. From the centre of this, aligned with the central portico of the house, stone steps descend in three flights over grass covered terraces to an oval lawn around the perimeter of which runs a gravel path and from which paths run to the east and west. In the centre of the lawn is a sundial
Sundial
A sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a...
. A wide lawn to the south-east of the house is ringed by paths and divided by another on a north-south access. This is interrupted by flights of steps and a fountain pond. Two small temples are positioned amongst trees part way down the slope.
To the west of the house Loudon laid out a flower garden. Later in the 1860s this was replanted with roses, but it is now lawns. At the south end of a walkway through this section of the garden is a water and rock garden known as "Jacobs Well". From the north end of the walk an avenue of giant sequoia
Sequoiadendron
Sequoiadendron giganteum is the sole living species in the genus Sequoiadendron, and one of three species of coniferous trees known as redwoods, classified in the family Cupressaceae in the subfamily Sequoioideae, together with Sequoia sempervirens and...
s planted in 1864 runs north-west towards the parish church of St Nicholas. Other Giant Sequoia are planted around the gardens. Close to the church, at the end of a paved walk is a small Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
folly
Folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
. South of the avenue is a grass amphitheatre
Amphitheatre
An amphitheatre is an open-air venue used for entertainment and performances.There are two similar, but distinct, types of structure for which the word "amphitheatre" is used: Ancient Roman amphitheatres were large central performance spaces surrounded by ascending seating, and were commonly used...
cut into the slope. The southern perimeter of the formal garden is formed by a Ha-Ha. To the south, beyond the formal gardens, the steepness of the slope reduces and the estate continues as open parkland with a tree-fringed lake about 500 metres (1,640.4 ft) south of the house.
The gardens and parkland are listed Grade II*, with a number of features in the garden also individually listed for their group value with the house and park. The north lodge, the steps to the south of the house, the sundial on the oval lawn and the folly are all listed Grade II.
The estate is private property and is not open to the public, but the Greensand Way
Greensand Way
The Greensand Way is long distance walk of in southeast England, from Haslemere in Surrey to Hamstreet in Kent. It follows the Greensand Ridge along the Surrey Hills and Chart Hills. The route is mostly rural, passing through woods, and alongside fruit orchards and hop farms in Kent and links...
long distance walk crosses the parkland east-west to the north of the house and a public footpath crosses the southern parkland close to the lake on a similar alignment.