Knole House

Description

A late 15th century archbishop's house, possibly on the site of an earlier medieval manor dating to between 1281 and 1456; later it became a Royal Tudor residence and later still it was altered as a Jacobean country house. It is constructed of Kentish ragstone, except for a later half timbered addition. It was built for Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury. King Henry VIII obtained Knole, along with Otford Palace, from Archbishop Cramner in 1532. In contrast to Otford, Knole was a smaller house; and King Henry apparantly intended to reserve it for his personal use when travelling through that area of the country, whilst the bulk of his retinue could stay at Ottford. There has been some debate as to whether Henry VIII had part of the house known as The Green Court added, or if this had in fact been added by one of Cranmer's ecclesiastical predecessors. Knowle eventually left Royal ownership and became the seat of the Sackville family. It underwent major remodelling in the Jacobean style between 1605 to 1608 for Thomas Sackville. There may have been further rebuilding later in the 17th century after a fire. (PastScape)

Archaeology South East were commissioned by the National Trust to undertake an archaeological watching brief and historical building record during works at Knole House, Sevenoaks, Kent. The work involved an archaeological watching brief of ground reduction after the removal of flagstone surfaces at Stone Court and Green Court. The historic building record comprised a photographic record of the north and south elevations of Stone Court prior to replacement of stonework and a brief record of the Orangery roof after removal of the tile cover. The results of the watching brief at Stone Court revealed part of an extensive water management system. The system included a large brick built tank or cistern (one of two cisterns revealed during a sub-surface video survey carried out in 2005) two man-holes leading to each of the cisterns and two linear drains. The watching brief at Green Court revealed two linear drainage gulleys, which ran alongside the north and south edges of the path from east to west. A single east west linear arrangement of irregular shaped stone blocks, within a probable foundation cut, was recorded close to the west end of the path. A ceramic lined drain orientated north south, capped by stone flags, was also recorded below the level of the pathway. The historic building record of the north and south elevations of Stone Court showed that the walls were constructed in hewn and coursed ragstone blocks over a protruding base plinth. The plinth had galetting to the mortar bedding joints and a moulded coping stone to the fabric above. The galetting was not continued into the fabric of the structure above the plinth. Some of the stone utilised in the construction of the walls had various tool marks, but none were of a uniform nature and are believed to be for shaping rather than decorative purposes. Both elevations have two rows of moulded string courses: the first between ground and first floor and the second above first floor and below the crenellated parapet. The stone string courses had been cut into to allow the elaborately decorated lead downpipes to be fixed to the structure. The down-pipes are dated 1605 and were added to the Court as part of the Great Rebuild carried out by the Sackville family. The survey of the Orangery roof structure revealed eight full bays and two partial bays. The partial bays connected the Orangery to the range at the western end and at the eastern end created a dormer-type construction for a Dutch Gable. There are three additional Dutch gables to the southern slope of the Orangery. The oak roof construction is of nine trusses comprising principal rafter pairs jointed at apex and linked by collar and tie-beam. The north and south roof slopes had a single in-line row of purlins in bay lengths tennoned into the corresponding principal rafters of the trusses. Ashlar posts, one to each side of the truss, linked the principal rafter to the tie-beam and together with the soffit of the collar created a large open area to the attic which had been finished in lath and plaster. The ceiling between ground and first floor had been removed in 1823 to make a double height space for the Orangery and a series of double height windows were placed within the southern elevation with a matching set of doors in the eastern elevation. The attic floor had remained in situ and was predominantly constructed of a grid-like arrangement of joists. (Archaeology South East 2007)