Lullingstone Castle
Encyclopedia
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
, set in an estate in the village of Lullingstone
Lullingstone
Lullingstone is a village in the county of Kent, England. It is best known for its castle, Roman villa and its public golf course.- Pre-Roman :It is believed that an Iron Age hill fort is sited on the hill above the castle, although this is unconfirmed....
and the civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
of Eynsford
Eynsford
Eynsford is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located on the River Darent, south of Dartford in Kent.-The village:...
in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of 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...
. It has been inhabited by members of the Hart Dyke family for twenty generations.
History
Mentioned in the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
, the present house was started in 1497. Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
and Queen Anne
Anne of Great Britain
Anne ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Act of Union, two of her realms, England and Scotland, were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain.Anne's Catholic father, James II and VII, was deposed during the...
were regular visitors to the Manor House. Though its Tudor brick gatehouse is one of the oldest in England, what survives of the house is largely of the Queen Anne era.
The gatehouse was originally built by Sir John Peche, who became Sheriff of Kent in 1495 and was knighted in 1497. The gatehouse is believed to be one of the first in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
that was constructed entirely from bricks.
Castle grounds
The surrounding 120 acre (0.4856232 km²) park was previously a fenced deer park, with the castle serving as a hunting lodge. The grounds are located on the River DarentRiver Darent
The River Darent or River Darenth is a Kentish tributary of the River Thames in England. Its name is believed to be from a Celtic word meaning 'river where oak-trees grow'...
and hidden within are Queen Anne's bathhouse and an icehouse dating from the 18th century. It also contains some of the oldest oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
trees in Britain, wildflowers, a medieval church (St Botolph's, with the oldest stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
window in England) and a walled garden, and used to contain Lullingstone Roman Villa
Lullingstone Roman villa
Lullingstone Roman Villa is a villa built during the Roman occupation of Britain, situated near the village of Eynsford in Kent, south eastern England....
. This walled garden - previously a Herb garden designed by Eleanour Sinclair Rohde
Eleanour Sinclair Rohde
Eleanour Sophy Sinclair Rohde was a British gardener, garden historian, and horticultural writer. For much of her life she lived at Cranham Lodge, Reigate. She collected unusual herb and vegetable varieties, and also worked as a garden designer. One of her best known designs was the herb garden...
- has recently been converted into the World Garden of Plants by the Castle's current heir (and 20th generation of the Hart Dyke's), plant hunter Tom Hart Dyke
Tom Hart Dyke
-External links:*...
. That conversion was the subject of the BBC2 series Save Lullingstone Castle. Tom Harte Dyke and the World Garden were again featured in Spring 2007 on the BBC2 series, Return to Lullingstone Castle. The garden and the castle are open to the public.