Owletts is a
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 ...
to the northwest of the village of
Cobham in Kent, England.
It is a
Grade II* listed building owned by the
National Trust.
History
The house was originally built in 1683-4 for Bonham Hayes (-1720), a successful, yeoman farmer of the Cobham area, and his wife Elizabeth.
The red-brick Kentish
Yeoman's house is symmetrical, two storeys high, with sliding sash and
dormer
A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window.
Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...
windows. The house interiors date in part to 1684, and include a remarkably ornate
Carolean plasterwork ceiling above the principal staircase.
Having passed to Hayes's son, Richard, then his grandson (also Richard),
[ the house passed in 1894 to the Edmeades family of ]Nurstead
Nurstead (or Nursted) is a locality, ecclesiastical parish and former civil parish situated 3 miles south of Gravesend and ½ a mile north of Meopham, Kent, England.
The parish was in the Hundred of Toltingtrough in the Lathe of Aylesford in t ...
(also in the parish of Gravesend
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Ro ...
), then by marriage to the Baker family.[
In 1862 the renowned architect Sir Herbert Baker was born here. Owletts became Herbert Baker's home in later life and he made numerous alterations including the addition of a porch and a wing on the north-west corner of the house. He also removed the wall between the entrance hall and the drawing room and in that room installed an ornamental 'Empire' clock.][ The family filled the house with specially commissioned or collected furniture.][
The house has a garden partly designed by ]Gertrude Jekyll
Gertrude Jekyll ( ; 29 November 1843 – 8 December 1932) was a British horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, and wrote ...
, who was introduced to Baker by Edwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...
(her friend) when he was working with Baker in Ernest George and Harold Peto's architectural office in London.
Acanthus plants growing in the garden are symbolic of Herbert Baker's architectural profession. Also within the garden is a bird-bath formed from Tivoli Order variant Corinthian capitals
The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order w ...
salvaged from the old Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
building by John Soane when Sir Herbert rebuilt the Bank (between 1925 and 1939).
When Herbert Baker died at the age of 83 on 4 February 1946 he left Owletts to the National Trust. The National Trust lets the property, but some rooms and the garden are opened regularly to the public. The current tenant is David Baker, the great-grandson and heir of Sir Herbert Baker, together with his family.
The house closed in 2011 for a £1 million refit, during which the collection of 900 objects and 1,400 books was carefully packed and stored off-site. It reopened on 7 April 2013.
References
{{reflist
External links
Owletts
- National Trust
List of paintings in the house
Country houses in Kent
Grade II* listed buildings in Kent
National Trust properties in Kent
Historic house museums in Kent
Houses completed in 1683
