Otford Palace
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Otford Palace, also known as the Archbishop's Palace, is in
Otford Otford is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It lies on the River Darent, north of Sevenoaks. Otford's four churches are the Anglican Church of St Bartholomew in the village centre, the Otford Methodist Churc ...
, an English village and
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
in the
Sevenoaks District Sevenoaks is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in west Kent, England. Its council is based in the town of Sevenoaks. The district was Local Government Act 1972, formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Sevenoaks Urban District ...
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 ...
. The village is located on the
River Darent The Darent is a Kentish tributary of the River Thames and takes the waters of the River Cray as a tributary in the tidal portion of the Darent near Crayford, as illustrated by the adjacent photograph, snapped at high tide. 'Darenth' is frequen ...
, flowing north down its valley from its source on the
North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills and ...
. The King of
Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era=Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ye ...
, ''Offa'', fought the Kentish Saxons in 776 at the
Battle of Otford The Battle of Otford was a battle fought in 776 between the Mercians, led by Offa of Mercia, and the Jutes of Kent. The battle took place at Otford, in the modern English county of Kent. The '' Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' recorded that the Merci ...
. In 791 (or possibly in the preceding year) Offa gave lands at Otford to Christ Church Canterbury (the ‘vill by the name of Otford’). This was a very significant gift.  It meant that the Monastery of Christ Church Canterbury and subsequently the Archbishops of Canterbury became the Lords of the Manor of Otford.  The size of this piece of land was not recorded but further gifts of land were made in 820 and 821.  The first, by Coenwulf, the Mercian King and son of Offa and in the following year by Ceolwulf, his brother and successor, who donated to Otford lands bordering the East bank of the River Darent between Shoreham and today's Bat and Ball. The second charter, in which Ceolwulf gives Wulfred, Archbishop of Canterbury, five plough lands consisting of two groups, one lying north-west of Kemsing and the other to the south-west,  can be found in the British Museum.  A large moated manor house was built here and enlarged over the next 600 years by 52 subsequent archbishops. Until 1543, the palace was one of the chain of houses belonging to the
archbishops of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
. In 1500, the Court Roll stated that Otford was, ''“one of the grandest houses in England”'' In 1514,
Archbishop Warham William Warham ( – 22 August 1532) was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1503 to his death. Early life and education Warham was the son of Robert Warham of Malshanger in Hampshire. He was educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford ...
frustrated by the City Fathers at Canterbury to allow him to build a new palace there, added the North, East and West Ranges around a great courtyard. The enlarged Palace predated that of
Cardinal Wolsey Thomas Wolsey ( – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic bishop. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figur ...
at
Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chief ...
and was little larger in its extent. Visitors to the Palace included Erasmus (a good friend of William Warham), Holbein, Cardinal Campaggio and King Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon ''en route'' to the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. A survey (c1537) recorded that over the bridge i''s the forebay or forefront of the Galerye well edified and bilded of free stone with large oute caste of baywondows after an uniforme plan by all the Northe Part of the said mote, verye pleasunte to the prospects and view of the said sighte.  ''The hall was ''invironed aboute with Galeries and Towers and Turrette of Stone and the Chappell embatiled and parte covered with leade''. However, in 1543
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
forced Archbishop Thomas Cranmer to surrender the palace to the Crown. Archbishop Cranmer's secretary Ralph Morrice was present in c 1543 when King Henry VIII visited Cranmer at Knole. ‘I was by when Otteford and Knole was given him.  My Lord Cranmer mynding to have retained Knole unto himself, saied, that it is too small a house for his Majestie.  “Marye” (saied the King), “I had rather to have it than this house (meaning Otteford), for it standith of a better soile. This house standith lowe and is rewmatike like unto Croydon where I colde never be without sykeness.  And as for Knole it standith on a sounde parfait holsome grounde.  And if I should make myne abode here as I do suerlie minde to do nowe and then, I myself will lye at Knole and most of my house shall lye at Otteford.”  And so my this means bothe these houses were delivered upp unto the Kings hands, and as for Otteford, it is a notable greate and ample house, whose reparations yerlie stode my Lordew in more that wolde thinke. After Henry's death, Elizabeth I showed relatively little interest in the Palace and eventually sold it to the Sidney Family who converted the Western side of the North Range into their private quarters. However, the decline continued and, when the area was dis-parked in 17th century the buildings were used as part of Castle Farm. In 1761, the North East Tower of the Palace was demolished and the stonework carried to Knole, Sevenoaks, where it was used to build Knole Folly which lies to the South-East of Knole House. The principal surviving remains are the North-West Tower, the lower gallery, now converted to cottages, and a part of the Great Gatehouse. There are further remains on private land, and a section of the boundary wall can be seen in Bubblestone Road. The entire site, of about is designated as an ancient monument. There are many related buildings in the village, including a wall in St Bartholomew's Church dating from ''c.'' 1050. Otford Palace is of ''exceptional'' significance for •      The evidence which it provides for the form and architectural character of what was one of the outstanding buildings of early 16th century England. •      Its archaeological potential to yield much more information about that building, particularly on the moat island, and its medieval predecessors. Otford Palace is of ''considerable'' significance for •      The evidential value of the adaptation of the north-west range by the Sidney family. •      Its ability to illustrate the form and scale of a late medieval archiepiscopal palace, despite its fragmentary survival. •      The aesthetic qualities, designed and fortuitous, of the north range building in its open space setting. •      The contribution it makes to the character and appearance of Otford Conservation Area. •      The insight it provides into the character and ambition of Archbishop Warham. Otford Palace is of ''some'' significance for •      As an illustration, especially with the archive material, of the struggle for the conservation of historic places during the 20th century. •      Its contribution to the identity of Otford and its community today. The Palace is now under the care of the Archbishop's Palace Conservation Trust.


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* {{Archbishop of Canterbury Tudor royal palaces in England Christianity in Kent Buildings and structures in Kent Episcopal palaces of archbishops of Canterbury Ruined palaces Ruins in Kent Brick Gothic Gothic architecture in England