![Godinton House -1985-](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Godinton_House_-1985-.JPG)
Godinton House (also known as Godinton House and Gardens or Godinton Park) is a stately home in the
parish of Great Chart, owned by a non-profit-making trust. It is north-west of the centreof the town of
Ashford, Kent, UK.
Description
Godinton House is an ancient brick house with a
Jacobean-style exterior. The roof has a distinctive system of
Dutch gables (also called semi-classical gables). The Jacobean house was built around a medieval great hall. Of particular note is the elaborate carvings in chestnut wood on the main staircase.
The gardens include one of the longest Yew hedges in England, as well as having spectacular displays of
delphiniums
''Delphinium'' is a genus of about 300 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, native throughout the Northern Hemisphere and also on the high mountains of tropical Africa. The genus was erected by Carl Linn ...
,
irises,
wild flowers
A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant probably is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is in any way different from the w ...
and
roses.
The house also has a
Steinway
Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a ...
piano.
It hosts one of the best private collections of porcelain in the South of England.
History
Godinton House was the seat of the Toke family for about 455 years from 1440 to 1895.
Around the turn of the century (19th/20th) then owner Mr. Ashley Dodd hired the architect Sir
Reginald Blomfield
Sir Reginald Theodore Blomfield (20 December 1856 – 27 December 1942) was a prolific British architect, garden designer and author of the Victorian and Edwardian period.
Early life and career
Blomfield was born at Bow rectory in Devon, w ...
to update the house and redesign the gardens. Blomfield planted the famous yew hedge, shaped to repeat the gable form seen on the house.
In 1991 Major Alan Wyndham-Green, the last owner of Godinton, established the Godinton House Preservation Trust. Since Major Wyndham-Green's passing in 1996 the Trust has continued to preserve, restore, and enhance the house and parklands.
References
External links
Official website: Godinton House and GardensGodinton House Preservation Trust (www.charity-commission.gov.uk - Charity No. 1002278)*
ttps://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015018602063 ''The Account Book of a Kentish Estate 1616-1704'', Edited by Eleanor Constance Lodge (1927)''A Saunter Through Kent with Pen and Pencil'', Vol. 2, by Sir Charles Igglesden (1900) (Google Books)Video of Godinton including drone fly overs.
Further reading
Account Book of a Kentish Estate 1616-1704'' Edited by
Eleanor Constance Lodge __NOTOC__
Eleanor Constance Lodge (18 September 1869, Hanley, Staffordshire – 19 March 1936) was a British academic who served as vice-principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford from 1906 to 1921 and then principal of Westfield College, Hampstea ...
(1927). This book features a comprehensive introduction by Eleanor C. Lodge analysing an ancient Toke account book. She describes life at Godinton (and county Kent in general) in the seventeenth century.
Saunter Through Kent with Pen and Pencil'', Vol. 2 by Sir Charles Igglesden (1900). Originally published at the Offices of the ''
Kentish Express
The ''Kentish Express'' is a weekly newspaper serving southern Kent. It is published in four editions - Ashford, Folkestone, Hythe and the Romney Marsh, and Tenterden. It is owned by the KM Group
KM Media Group is a multimedia company in ...
'', Ashford, Kent. The chapter about Godinton is a unique coverage. It includes fascinating stories, including traditional local gossip, about murder, intrigue, ghosts, secret rooms, and secret passages. The description of the house and garden is beautifully written.
*"Godinton, Kent, the seat of Mr. G. Ashley Dodd"
Country Life Magazine, London, July 18, 1903, pp. 90–98.
*"Godinton, Kent, the seat of Mr. George Ashley Dodd" Country Life Magazine, London, May 11, 1907, pp. 666–673.
*"GODINTON PARK, KENT - I, The Home of Mr. Alan Wyndham-Green" By
Christopher Hussey, Country Life Magazine, London, December 6, 1962, pp. 1396–1400.
*"GODINTON PARK, KENT - II, The Home of Mr. Alan Wyndham-Green" By Christopher Hussey, Country Life Magazine, London, December 13, 1962, pp. 1546–1549.
*"GODINTON PARK, KENT - III, The Home of Mr. Alan Wyndham-Green" By Christopher Hussey, Country Life Magazine, London, December 20, 1962, pp. 1600–1603.
*"Painted Catalogue" (letter), Country Life Magazine, London, December 27, 1962, page 1662. This letter concerns the famous painting, "The Last Day in the Old Home" (1862) by
Robert Braithwaite Martineau. The painting is on display at the
Tate Britain
Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...
. The setting in this painting is a composite of rooms at Godinton (including Toke family crests).
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Country houses in Kent
Grade I listed houses in Kent
Historic house museums in Kent
Gardens in Kent