Linton Park, formerly Linton Place or Linton Hall, is a large 18th-century
country house
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
in
Linton Linton may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Linton, Victoria
Canada
* Linton, Ontario
* Linton, Quebec
United Kingdom England
* Linton, Cambridgeshire
* Linton, Derbyshire
* Linton (near Bromyard), Herefordshire
* Linton (near Ross-on-Wye), Her ...
,
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 ...
, England. Built by Robert Mann in 1730 to replace a much earlier building called 'Capell's Court' The estate passed through the ownership of several members of Mann's family before coming into the Cornwallis family. The house was enlarged to its current size in 1825.
The house sits in a prominent location, part way down a south-facing slope which provides excellent views of the grounds and the
Weald
The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent. It has three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the ...
beyond. Gardens close to the house contain formal walks laid out in 1825 with specimen trees planted then and later.
The house is a Grade I
listed building
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 ...
and the garden and park is listed Grade II*. Other buildings and structures in the park are also listed.
Linton Park is now the corporate headquarters of
Camellia plc, an international agricultural company.
History
From the late 14th century, a house by the name of Capell's Court stood on the site of Linton Park.
It took its name from a family of local landowners named de Capell who held the property from the late 14th century to the mid-15th century. It was then sold to the Baysden family who held it until the late 16th century, when it was sold to Sir Anthony Mayney. Mayney's grandson sold the estate to the judge
Sir Francis Wythen. Wythen's daughter, Catherine, inherited the estate and, following her second marriage to Brigadier-General Sir George Jocelyn, the estate was sold to London merchant Sir Robert Mann.
Around 1730, Mann demolished Capell's Court and built the first part of the present house. On his death in 1751, the house passed to his son Edward Mann. Edward Mann died in 1775 without legitimate children and the house passed to his brother the diplomat Sir Horace Mann
Sir Horatio (Horace) Mann, 2nd Baronet (2 February 1744 – 2 April 1814) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1774 and 1807. He is remembered as a member of the Hambledon Club in Hampshire and a patron of Kent cricket ...
. Sir Horace had taken the name of the estate as his territorial designation
In the United Kingdom, a territorial designation follows modern peerage titles, linking them to a specific place or places. It is also an integral part of all baronetcies. Within Scotland, a territorial designation proclaims a relationship with ...
when made a baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
in 1755, but was permanently resident in Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
. Sir Horace Mann was a friend and long-time correspondent of Horace Walpole
Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician.
He had Strawb ...
. After a visit to Edward Mann at Linton Park in 1757, Walpole wrote to Sir Horace in Florence that: "the house is fine and stands like the citadel of Kent; the whole county is its garden." On the death of Sir Horace in 1786, the baronetcy and the house passed to his nephew, Sir Horatio Mann
Sir Horatio (Horace) Mann, 2nd Baronet (2 February 1744 – 2 April 1814) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1774 and 1807. He is remembered as a member of the Hambledon Club in Hampshire and a patron of Kent cricket ...
MP, of Boughton Place
Boughton Place, formerly Bocton Place or Bocton Hall, is a country house in Boughton Malherbe, Kent, England. It is the historic home of the Wotton family and birthplace of Sir Henry Wotton (1568–1639), ambassador to Venice under James I.
H ...
in nearby Boughton Malherbe
Boughton Malherbe ( ) is a village and civil parish in the Maidstone district of Kent, England, equidistant between Maidstone and Ashford. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 428, including Sandway and Grafty Green, inc ...
.[
]
Sir Horatio died in 1814 and the house was inherited by James Cornwallis, Bishop of Lichfield
The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers 4,516 km2 (1,744 sq. mi.) of the counties of Powys, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West Mi ...
, who was the widowed husband of Mann's older sister, Catherine. Cornwallis became the fourth Earl Cornwallis
Earl Cornwallis was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1753 for Charles Cornwallis, 5th Baron Cornwallis. The second Earl was created Marquess Cornwallis but this title became extinct in 1823, while the earldom and its ...
on the death of his nephew Charles Cornwallis, 2nd Marquess Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis, 2nd Marquess Cornwallis (19 October 1774 – 9 August 1823), styled Viscount Brome until 1805, was a British Tory politician. He served as Master of the Buckhounds between 1807 and 1823.
Background
Cornwallis was the only s ...
in 1823, but died himself in 1824. The estate passed to his son James
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
, the fifth Earl.[ On the fifth Earl's death in 1852, the property was inherited by his daughter Julia. In 1862, she married William Amherst, Viscount Holmesdale (later, after her death in 1883, the third ]Earl Amherst
Earl Amherst (), of Arracan in the East Indies, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 19 December 1826, for William Amherst, 2nd Baron Amherst, the Governor-General of India. He was made Viscount Holmesdale, in t ...
).[
By 1888, the estate was in the possession of Fiennes Stanley Wykeham Cornwallis MP (created 1st ]Baron Cornwallis
Baron Cornwallis is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The holders of the first creation were later made Earl Cornwallis and Marquess Cornwallis, but these titles ar ...
in 1927), grandson of the fifth Earl Cornwallis's other daughter Jemima Isabella Mann. He owned the house until his death in 1935. His first son, Captain Fiennes Wykeham Mann Cornwallis MC, was killed in an IRA
Ira or IRA may refer to:
*Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name
*Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name
*Iran, UNDP code IRA
Law
*Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...
ambush near Gort
Gort ( or ) is a town of around 3,000 inhabitants in County Galway in the west of Ireland. Located near the border with County Clare, the town lies between the Burren and the Slieve Aughty and is served by the R458 and R460 regional roads, wh ...
, County Galway
"Righteousness and Justice"
, anthem = ()
, image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg
, map_caption = Location in Ireland
, area_footnotes =
, area_total_km2 = ...
in 1921, and so the first baron was succeeded by his second son, Wykeham Stanley Cornwallis. The second baron sold the house in 1937 and it became the property of Olaf Hambro, a member of the Hambro banking family.[ Following the death of Hambro in 1961, the house was sold to the Daubeny family. The house and its nearest surrounding land were sold to the ]Freemasons
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
in 1974 and were briefly operated as a school before passing into corporate ownership.[
]
Buildings
Robert Mann's original 1730s house was a two-storey brick building seven bays
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...
wide with a break front. This was extended for the fifth Earl Cornwallis in 1825 by Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the Ap ...
and William Cubitt
Sir William Cubitt FRS (bapt. 9 October 1785 – 13 October 1861) was an eminent English civil engineer and millwright. Born in Norfolk, England, he was employed in many of the great engineering undertakings of his time. He invented a type of ...
. The Cubitts' alterations included adding a third storey to the original house and building two-storey wings four bays wide on each side. The house was also refinished with stucco render. Its hipped roof
A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...
is covered with slates
SLATES (Search, Links, Authorship, Tags, Extensions, Signalling) is an initialism that describes the business impacting capabilities, derived from the effective use of Web 2.0 technologies in and across enterprises.
Origin of the term
This acron ...
.
The entrance to the house is on the north side through a single storey portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
. The north façade features tall sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...
s on the ground and first floors of 12 panes; the second floor windows to the central section are shorter and of nine panes. moulded stucco cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
s run above the ground and first floor windows. The east and west façades are five bays wide with a two-storey projecting bay on the east end and a single-storey projecting bay on the west end.[
Due to the slope of the site, the south façade, which overlooks the main part of the grounds, stands on a raised and terraced platform with the ground floor raised to first floor level and the basement becoming the ground floor. Above the terrace, the façade has the same general arrangement as the north façade, but the wings project slightly past the central section, which has a two-storey ]pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedimen ...
ed portico. Each wing previously had a single-storey bay at its centre but these have been removed.[
Internally, a number of rooms feature period wall and ceiling decorations including the entrance hall, which dates from the original 1730s building and features moulded panelling and cornices, a marble fireplace and ornamental plaster ceiling and an ]arabesque
The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...
frieze
In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...
. The stairwell is lit from above with a roof light and features a cantilever
A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...
ed stair with iron balusters from the 1825 adaptation with a later brass handrail.[
To the north-east of the house is the estate's former stable building. This was built around the time of the fifth Earl's extension of the house and is aligned on a north-south axis. The building comprises three three-storey ]gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
-fronted pavilions separated by a pair of two-storey wings. The façades are of brick, with the west façade painted white and the east unpainted. The roof is of slate with a clock tower in the centre of the east side of the central pavilion. Close to the stables is an underground brick-built ice house accessed by a vaulted tunnel. The ice house dates from 1788.
The main house is a Grade I listed building
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 ...
and the stables and the ice house are listed Grade II.[
]
Park
Approached across parkland along a tree-lined drive from a lodge to the north, the house sits in a landscape of approximately of parkland, woodland and farmland part way down a south facing greensand
Greensand or green sand is a sand or sandstone which has a greenish color. This term is specifically applied to shallow marine sediment that contains noticeable quantities of rounded greenish grains. These grains are called ''glauconies'' and c ...
slope overlooking the valley of the River Beult
The River Beult ( ) is a tributary of the River Medway in South East England.
Course
The Beult has several sources west of Ashford, including one at Woodchurch. It then flows through Headcorn. At Hunton, above Yalding, it is joined by the ...
. Although now simplified without the intensive planting used in earlier centuries, elements remain of the formal gardens designed by John Claudius Loudon
John Claudius Loudon (8 April 1783 – 14 December 1843) was a Scottish botanist, garden designer and author. He was the first to use the term arboretum in writing to refer to a garden of plants, especially trees, collected for the purpose of ...
in 1825 that were previously arranged on the north, south-east, south and west sides of the house.[
Immediately to the south of the house is a wide long terrace with a stone ]balustrade
A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...
. From the centre of this, aligned with the central portico of the house, stone steps descend in three flights over grass covered terraces to an oval lawn around the perimeter of which runs a gravel path and from which paths run to the east and west. In the centre of the lawn is a sundial
A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...
. A wide lawn to the south-east of the house is ringed by paths and divided by another on a north–south axis. This is interrupted by flights of steps and a fountain pond. Two small temples are positioned amongst trees part way down the slope.[
To the west of the house, Loudon laid out a flower garden. Later in the 1860s this was replanted with roses, but it is now lawns. At the south end of a walkway through this section of the garden is a water and rock garden known as "Jacobs Well". From the north end of the walk an avenue of ]giant sequoia
''Sequoiadendron giganteum'' (giant sequoia; also known as giant redwood, Sierra redwood, Sierran redwood, California big tree, Wellingtonia or simply big treea nickname also used by John Muir) is the sole living species in the genus ''Sequoiade ...
s planted in 1864 runs north-west towards the parish church of St Nicholas
Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-da ...
. Other Giant Sequoia are planted around the gardens. Close to the church, at the end of a paved walk is a small Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings.
Eighteenth-cent ...
designed by Richard Bentley
Richard Bentley FRS (; 27 January 1662 – 14 July 1742) was an English classical scholar, critic, and theologian. Considered the "founder of historical philology", Bentley is widely credited with establishing the English school of Hellen ...
.[ South of the avenue is a grass ]amphitheatre
An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...
cut into the slope. The southern perimeter of the formal garden is formed by a ha-ha
A ha-ha (french: hâ-hâ or ), also known as a sunk fence, blind fence, ditch and fence, deer wall, or foss, is a recessed landscape design element that creates a vertical barrier (particularly on one side) while preserving an uninterrupted view ...
.[ To the south, beyond the formal gardens, the steepness of the slope reduces and the estate continues as open parkland with a tree-fringed lake about south of the house.][
The gardens and parkland are listed Grade II*,][ with a number of features in the garden also individually listed for their group value with the house and park. The north lodge, the steps to the south of the house, the sundial on the oval lawn and the folly are all listed Grade II.]
The estate is private property and is not open to the public, but the Greensand Way
The Greensand Way is a long-distance path of in southeast England, from Haslemere in Surrey to Hamstreet in Kent. It follows the Greensand Ridge along the Surrey Hills and Chart Hills. The route is mostly rural, passing through woods, and al ...
long distance walk crosses the parkland east-west to the north of the house and a public footpath crosses the southern parkland close to the lake on a similar alignment.
See also
*Grade I listed buildings in Maidstone
There are 42 Grade I listed buildings in Maidstone. The Borough of Maidstone is a local government district in the English county of Kent. The district covers a largely rural area of between the North Downs and the Weald with the town ...
References
External links
''Country Life'', Images of the gardens of Linton Park, circa 1900
{{good article
Houses completed in 1730
Borough of Maidstone
Grade I listed buildings in Kent
Country houses in Kent