The main building at Benenden School behind the trees - geograph

Hemsted Park, historically sometimes known as Hempsted Park,
Benenden, Kent Archaeological Society. Retrieved 2017-12-02. is a former country estate and manor house north-west of the village of

Benenden Benenden is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. The parish is located on the Weald, to the west of Tenterden. In addition to the main village, Iden Green, East End, Dingleden and Standen Street settle ...

in the English county of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. It is the site of

Benenden School Benenden School is an independent boarding school for girls in Kent, England, in Hemsted Park at Benenden, between Cranbrook and Tenterden. Benenden has a boarding population of over 550 girls aged 11 to 18, as well as a limited number of da ...

, an independent boarding school for girls. The park was the seat of the Guldeford baronets until 1718. Hemsted House, which stands in the grounds and is the main building of the school, is a 19th century house. It was built in an Elizabethan style in the early 1860s and remodelled at the beginning of the 20th century. A single

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

match was held on a ground at the park in 1843.

History

The park has a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

settlement within its boundaries and is at the junction of two

Roman roads Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

– one from Ashford and the other from

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

.Benenden and Iben Green
Conservation Areas Appraisal,

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council Tunbridge may refer to the following places: * Tunbridge, Illinois, United States * Tunbridge, North Dakota, see Locations in the United States with an English name#North Dakota * Tunbridge, Tasmania, Australia * Tunbridge, Vermont, United State ...

, April 2005. Retrieved 2017-12-04. There are nearby

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

settlements.Case study report: Benenden by footpath
High Weald AONB Unit Report,

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

. March 2017. Retrieved 2017-12-02.Trail 2: The Old Manor House, Hemsted and The Ford
Historic landscape trails in Benenden, Benenden Amenity and Countryside Society. Retrieved 2017-12-02. The earliest available records show the land in the possession of

Odo, Earl of Kent Odo of Bayeux (died 1097), Earl of Kent and Bishop of Bayeux, was the maternal half-brother of William the Conqueror, and was, for a time, second in power after the King of England. Early life Odo was the son of William the Conqueror's mother ...

, the man believed to have commissioned the Bayeux Tapestry, having been given it - amongst much other property in the county - by his half-brother

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

after the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...

."History of Benenden"

. Retrieved 2017-12-02. The first property on the site was a house built by Robert of Hemsted which is first recorded in 1216 and was moated in the 12th century. Ireland WH (1829
Benenden
in ''England's topographer, or A new and complete history of the county of Kent'', pp.340–342. London: G Virtue. In 1388, Richard II granted the manor to William of Guldeford, the first of the Guldeford baronets of Hemsted who made changes to the original house. Burke J, Burke JB (1838) Guldeford of Hemsted, ''A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies of England'', pp.230–231. London: London: John Russell Smith.
Available online
Retrieved 2017-12-02).Kilburne R (1659) Benenden, in ''A topographie or survey of the county of Kent, London, 1659''.
Available online
. Retrieved 2017-12-02). Richard Guldeford fought with King Henry VI at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. A deer park was

enclosed Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

during the

Tudor period The Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603 in England and Wales and includes the Elizabethan period during the reign of Elizabeth I until 1603. The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England that began wit ...

to create an area of parkland.

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

visited Thomas Guldeford at the house and he was knighted by her at Rye a few days later.Haslewood Rev F (1889) Hemsted, in ''The Parish of Benenden, Kent'', pp.193–194.
Available online
. Retrieved 2017-12-02. In the early 18th century the property was sold to Admiral Sir John Norris, the commander-in-chief of

George II George II or 2 may refer to: People * George II of Antioch (seventh century AD) * George II of Armenia (late ninth century) * George II of Abkhazia (916–960) * Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051) * George II of Georgia (1072–1089) ...

's navy. He was instrumental in landscaping the estate, enlarging the park and forming much of the parkland as it is now. The house was sold to Thomas Hallett Hodges, who was

High Sheriff of Kent The high sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown (prior to 1974 the office previously known as sheriff)."Sheriffs appointed for a county or Greater London shall be known as high sheriffs, and any reference in any enactment or instrum ...

in 1786, in 1780.Haslewood ''

Op. cit. ''Op. cit.'' is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase ' or ''opere citato'', meaning "the work cited" or ''in the cited work'', respectively. Overview The abbreviation is used in an endnote or footnote to refer the reader to a cited work, standing ...

'', p.194.Hodges, Thomas Law (1776-1857), of Hemsted Place, Benenden, Kent
The History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 2017-12-02. He reduced the size of the hall, removing two wings of the brick built house, one of which had two octagonal towers, filled in the moat that had until that point encircled it and created the lake in the grounds.Benenden country house

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

. Retrieved 2017-12-02. Hodges' son,

Thomas Law Hodges Thomas Law Hodges (1776 – 14 May 1857) was an English Whig Party politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1830 and 1852. Hodges was the son of Thomas Hallet Hodges of Hemsted Park in Kent and his wife Dorothy Cartwright, ...

inherited the house in 1801 and began to develop the grounds of the park, planting trees across it. The main building at Benenden School - geograph

The Elizabethan property was demolished between 1860 and 1862 following the acquisition of the estate by Lord Cranbrook in 1857 after Hodges' death.Walford E (1860) ''The county families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of Great Britain and Ireland.'', p.289. London: Robert Hardwicke. He commissioned the building of a new house, the basis of the current Hemsted House, employing David Brandon, president of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

to design the new mansion which was built a little to the east of the original buildings. Traces of the original buildings and moat remain on the site. The grounds of the park were relandscaped during the same period by William Broderick Thomas and much of the village of

was also remodelled at the same time.Hemsted Park, (also known as Benenden School), Tunbridge Wells, England
Parks and Gardens. Retrieved 2017-12-02. Landscaping included the creation of one of the first avenues of Japanese red cedar trees in the United Kingdom and the area of Hemsted Forest, north of the park, was purchased by Cranbrook and became part of the park. The forest is now owned and managed by the

Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also respon ...

.Trail 1: Goddards Green and Church Wood
Historic landscape trails in Benenden, Benenden Amenity and Countryside Society. Retrieved 2017-12-02. The house, which featured a prominent tower and was described as having "alarming vitality", was built in an Elizabethan style and was subsequently remodelled in 1912 by Herbert Cescinsky at the behest of its new owner, newspaper magnate and later Lord Rothermere,

Harold Harmsworth Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere, (26 April 1868 – 26 November 1940) was a leading British newspaper proprietor who owned Associated Newspapers Ltd. He is best known, like his brother Alfred Harmsworth, later Viscount Northcl ...

. The remodelling saw the "vitality" toned down and the upper levels of the tower removed. The main house itself, as well as a number of the out-building and lodges, are

Grade II listed buildings In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

.Hemsted House Benenden School Including Attached Terrace Wall
British listed Buildings. Retrieved 2017-12-02. The grounds include a number of formal garden areas, as well as ornamental parkland and plantings of trees and a 19th century walled kitchen garden. Many of the trees in the park were lost during the Great Storm of 1987. Rothermere sold the Hemsted estate in 1924, dividing it up into lots, reducing the size of the estate itself from to eventually cover around . The house itself was initially rented by

before being purchased the following year. The school was evacuated during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and the house used as a military hospital. Buildings have been added to the school site throughout the time it has occupied the park.

Cricket ground

A cricket pitch was laid out at Hemsted Park during the early 19th century by the Hodges family and used for a number of "society matches".A brief history of Benenden Cricket Club
Benenden Cricket Club, 2014-06-16. Retrieved 2017-12-02. A match in 1835 between a team assembled by

Thomas Twisden Hodges Thomas Twisden Hodges (29 August 1809 – 12 March 1865) was an English Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1835 and 1852. Hodges was the son of Thomas Law Hodges of Hemsted Park, MP for West Kent, an ...

and one from Sheldwich Lees representing Lord Sondes was watched by over 6,000 spectators and the ground was the home ground of Benenden Cricket Club, who were a significant side in Kent at the time, between 1835 and 1843.Milton H (1979) Kent cricket grounds, in ''The Cricket Statistician'', no.28, December 1979, pp.2–10. The only recorded

match on the ground was in 1843, when Kent County Cricket Club played an England side in a

benefit match A benefit is a match or season of activities granted by a sporting body to a loyal sportsman to boost their income before retirement. Often this is in the form of a match for which all the ticket proceeds are given to the player in question. Howeve ...

for

Ned Wenman Edward Gower "Ned" Wenman (18 August 1803 – 28 December 1879) was an English first-class cricketer whose career spanned the 1825 to 1854 seasons. A specialist wicket-keeper, he was a prominent member of the great Kent team of the 1840s which a ...

.Kent against England, ''The Sporting magazine; or Monthly calendar of the transactions of the turf, the chace, and every other diversion interesting to the man of pleasure and enterprize'', 1843, p.264.
Available online
Retrieved 2017-12-02).
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-12-02. Wenman was born in

, worked as a wheelwright and was an amateur cricketer, being particularly noted as an excellent wicket-keeper.Brown R
Edward Wenman
''

The Cricketer ''The Cricketer'' is a monthly English cricket magazine providing writing and photography from international, county and club cricket. The magazine was founded in 1921 by Sir Pelham Warner, an ex-England captain turned cricket writer. Warner ...

'' at CricInfo. Retrieved 2017-12-02.Mills T (1983
Runs in the family
''

'', at CricInfo. Retrieved 2017-12-02.Knox M (2015) ''The Keepers'', p.16. London: Penguin Books.
Available online
Retrieved 2017-12-02). Wenman was about to retire from first-class cricket, although he later returned to the game and played until 1854. The match was hosted by the park owner

who arranged a dinner after the match for "nearly 200 gentlemen". The match was the third match of the season between Kent and England. Kent won, scoring 199 runs in their two innings whilst England scored 100 runs. The occasion was described:

...every arrangement was made for the accommodation of the numerous visitors, several marquees and booths having been erected around the circle enclosed for the play –''The Sporting Magazine'', 1843

The match was the only time that Kent used the ground.Grounds Records in ''Kent County Cricket Club Annual 2017'', pp.210–211. Canterbury: Kent County Cricket Club. It no longer exists as a cricket ground, having been removed during the re-landscaping of the park in the late 19th century, and the exact location of the ground within the park is unknown. Benenden Cricket Club returned to their ground on the village green after the 1843 match.

Notes

References

External links

Hensted Park
(

sic The Latin adverb ''sic'' (; "thus", "just as"; in full: , "thus was it written") inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any e ...

) at Cricinfo {{Kent CCC Defunct cricket grounds in England Cricket grounds in Kent Defunct sports venues in Kent