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Ightham Mote - Sevenoakes, Kent (NT)

At first sight, this unbelievably romantic house looks all of a piece, but in fact, as with so many other old houses, its construction spanned many centuries. Here at Ightham, it happens that the alterations, extensions and repairs tended to be sympathetic rather than in the latest style. What we see today dates from the mid-fourteenth century right up until the last alterations in 1890-1. It is not known who the original builder was, but the first documentary evidence of ownership comes from about 1360, when it was owned by Sir Thomas Cawne, whose effigy in full armour can be seen in the church at Ightham. It is thought that he fought at Crecy. He bequeathed the house to his son Robert in 1374 and the house at that time would have consisted of the Great Hall, the Chapel and Crypt and two Solars, for the private use of the family. These rooms remain, although somewhat altered. The moat seems to have always been there, but the courtyard would have looked very different, with perhaps wooden domestic buildings. The courtyard was enclosed by the end of the fifteenth century, with the tower gatehouse seen below added shortly afterwards. Its stonework is not bonded into the walls on either side, but it does have a medieval porter's squint, similar to that at Cotehele in Cornwall, enabling letters or calls of identification to be passed in before the gate was opened.

There are three bridges over the moat, which is kept fresh by water running from the upper lake, through culverts under the Bowling Green and out again the other side to the south lake. Outside the moat are substantial Elizabethan half-timbered buildings which were once part of the stable courtyard.

Once through the Gatehouse, the original medieval Great Hall is directly in front of you. The five light Perpendicular window on the left was inserted later by the then owner, Richard Haut. The stained glass coats of arms are from before 1533 and proclaim the subsequent owner, Richard Clement and his association with the court under Henry VIII. Before this alteration, which also moved the fireplace into the wall from the original central hearth, the room would have been dark and smoky, the floor covered with rushes changed perhaps once a year. The servants would have slept here and the lord and lady eaten at a table, probably on a raised dais, at the end of the room. The original roof timbers remain, only one or two replaced and through dendrochronology it has been dated to the 1340s. From the Hall, a contemporary door leads to the Staircase Hall, now furnished with a fine Jacobean staircase, probably built to replace the medieval stone or wooden spiral stair by Sir William Selby, who inherited Ightham from his uncle in 1611. The newel post is carved with the Selby family crest, a Saracen's Head. The old Chapel and Crypt can also be reached from the Hall.

There are two Solars upstairs, both of which at one time had oriel windows, but one was removed at some stage. These rooms were used and decorated in the late Victorian and early Edwardian periods by the family of the then owners, the Colyer-Fergussons and some wallpaper survives from this time. The surviving oriel window seems to have been moved from elsewhere as its dating is earlier than that of the supporting axial beam, which was felled in 1532.

The New Chapel range dated from 1470-1480. Originally open to the courtyard as an arcade on the lower storey, it was glassed in about 1890. It has been suggested that the 'new' chapel was originally built as a long gallery, connecting the old and new parts of the building. This is supported by the somewhat haphazard fitting of the chapel with furniture dating from medieval times to the eighteenth century. However, the glory of the chapel is its early sixteenth century painted ceiling with similar motifs to the stained glass window in the Great Hall, and therefore the work of Richard Clement. As some of the boards have been altered to fit the ceiling, it may be that the boards were decorated for another purpose and brought to Ightham by Richard. There is no other ceiling quite of this kind in England.

The Drawing Room has undergone various alterations as well; in the seventeenth century it was divided into two rooms, then made into one in the eighteenth century with the old windows blocked up and replaced with a new one of mock medieval design. This alteration can be seen in the walls from the outside. The Jacobean fireplace bears the arms of the second Sir William Selby and his wife Dorothy, whose portrait is on the stairs. Sir William also rebuilt the roof using fifteenth century rafters and installed the ceiling. The Selby Saracen Head appears in the frieze, which was gilded in 1890.

Back down the stairs, which date from several periods, is the Billiard Room, the only room shown which is almost wholly Victorian in its fittings. What used to be the lumber-room or carpenters' workshop was altered by Sir Thomas Colyer-Fergusson in 1890-1 to provide the gentlemen's' recreation room that was the height of fashion at the time.

The gardens at Ightham have also been archaeologically investigated. What is now the Bowling Green seems to have been once a large fish-pond. As well as the dove-cot over the old stable buildings, this would have supplied a large household with fresh food. There does not seem to have been an elaborate Elizabethan or Jacobean formal garden, but productive vegetable, herb and flower plots for the house. At one time there was a Knot garden for the private use of the family, but no trace remains.

Similar fortified and moated houses of interest:

Baddesley Clinton
Ightham Mote
Oxburgh Hall
Chateau d'Etoges

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