Ford Archbishops Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Ford Manor Farmhouse

In the civil parish of Hoath.
In the historic county of Kent.
Modern Authority of Kent.
1974 county of Kent.
Medieval County of Kent.

OS Map Grid Reference: TR20626574
Latitude 51.34757° Longitude 1.16494°

Ford Archbishops Palace has been described as a certain Palace.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.

Description

This building incorporates part of the late mediaeval gatehouse of the Palace of the Archbishops of Canterbury. Most of the Palace was demolished in 1658. The existing building incorporates a wing of C15 date but was refronted in red brick in C18. (Listed Building Report)

The remains of the Bishop's Manor House at Ford (built by Cardinal Moreton between 1486 and 1501 and demolished in 1658) consists of a few fragments of massive walling. The present farmhouse known as Ford Manor stands on or near the site of the gate-house or lodge. A 16th century farm to the N.E. of the farmhouse was probably part of the manor house buildings. Local tradition speaks of "fishponds" on the site and within comparatively recent years a moat adjoining the ruins has been filled in. There is, however, no reference in the Parliamentary Survey of 1647 to features such as these and so they may be subsequent additions. A fragment of map dated 1624 shows "Forde Parke" extending as far as Oxenden Corner and contained on the W. and N. sides by roads. (PastScape)

On low-lying ground beside the stream, there is a sub-rectangular piece of raised ground enclosed on three sides by a shallow depression which bears a superficial resemblance to a homestead moat. (PastScape ref. F1 ASP 12.03.64)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1085650
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 467104.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) TR 26 NW 1172.

Books
- Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 393-4
  Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 320-25, 339-40
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 171
  McIntosh, K. and Gough, H.E. (eds), 1984, Hoath and Herne p. 36-40
  Hasted, Edward, 1801, The history and topographical survey of the county of Kent Vol. 12 p. 524-5 online transcription
  Hasted, Edward, 1800 (2edn), The history and topographical survey of the county of Kent Vol. 9 p. 96-101 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Gough, H. 2001, 'The Archbishop's Manor at Ford, Hoath' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 121 p. 251-68 online copy
  Gough, H.E., 1964, 'Shorter Notes - Manor House at Ford' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 79 p. 205-6 online copy
  Bennett, B.J., 1933, 'Ford Manor' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 45 p. 168-173 online copy
  Hussey, A., 1904, 'Ford manor house and lands in 1647' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 26 p. 119-132 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 255
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1909, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 4 p. 46, 62 online copy

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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