Provender is an
English country house in
Norton Norton may refer to:
Places
Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada
* Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan
*Norton Parish, New Brunswick
**Norton, New Brunswick, a ...
near
Faversham
Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient Briti ...
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 privately owned but open for tours on certain days, and is an event venue.
Location
The house is reached along Provender Lane, Norton, a village in the
Swale
Swale or Swales may refer to:
Topography
* Swale (landform), a low tract of land
** Bioswale, landform designed to remove silt and pollution
** Swales, found in the formation of Hummocky cross-stratification
Geography
* River Swale, in North ...
district of Kent.
[Historic Houses Association: Provender](_blank)
/ref> It has been listed as Grade II*
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 ...
on the 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 ...
since 27 August 1952.
History
The house was built in 1342 for Lucas of Vienne, the Chief Archer
Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...
to Edward, the Black Prince
Edward of Woodstock, known to history as the Black Prince (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), was the eldest son of King Edward III of England, and the heir apparent to the English throne. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, suc ...
.Sir Edward Knatchbull, 9th Baronet
Sir Edward Knatchbull, 9th Baronet, (20 December 1781 – 24 May 1849) was a British Tory politician. He held office under Sir Robert Peel as Paymaster of the Forces between 1834 and 1835 and as Paymaster-General between 1841 and 1845.
Backgr ...
inherited it from Dorothea Hugessen, who had married naturalist Joseph Banks but died childless, and the estate was farmed by William Knatchbull-Hugessen
William Western Knatchbull-Hugessen (23 May 1837 – 6 September 1864) was an English amateur cricketer who played in three first-class cricket matches in 1858 and 1859.
Biography
The youngest son of Sir Edward Knatchbull, 9th Baronet and his ...
in the 1860s.[Carlaw D (2020) ''Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914'' (revised edition), pp.313–314.]
Available online
at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians
The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Statis ...
. Retrieved 1 August 2021.)
The widowed Constance Borgström ''née'' Paterson started to live there as a tenant in the 1890s. She was the widow of a rich Finnish businessman, consul Emil Borgström, one of the younger sons of Councillor Henrik Borgström and his wife Carolina ''née'' Kjemmer. Emil was from a key Finnish banking family who had British business links since his training with British merchants in the early part of the century.
One of Constance's daughters, Sylvia, a Finnish-born heiress, married Colonel Herbert McDougall of the British Army in 1906,[”McDOUGALL, Herbert / Faversham 2a 1323”, “BORGSTROM, Sylvia / Faversham 2a 1323”, in General Index to Marriages in England and Wales, 1906] and bought the house and its land in 1912. Since then, the property has passed from mother to daughter twice.Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia
Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia (russian: Александр Михайлович ''Aleksandr Mikhailovich''; 13 April 1866 – 26 February 1933) was a dynast of the Russian Empire, a naval officer, an author, explorer, the brother-i ...
and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia
Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia (russian: Ксения Александровна Романова; – 20 April 1960) was the elder daughter and fourth child of Tsar Alexander III of Russia and Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia ...
, sister of the last Tsar. The house became Prince Andrew's main residence in exile from 1950.Princess Olga Andreevna Romanoff
Princess Olga Andreevna Romanoff (; born 8 April 1950) is a Russian princess and descendant of the House of Romanov. She is the president of the Romanov Family Association.
Biography
Princess Olga is the youngest child of Prince Andrei Alexandr ...
,George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...
who died in 1936, saw the house refurbished in the 2000s by the architect Ptolemy Dean
Ptolemy Hugo Dean (born 1968) is a British architect, television presenter and the 19th Surveyor of the Fabric of Westminster Abbey. He specialises in historic preservation, as well as designing new buildings that are in keeping with their hist ...
.
References
External links
*
{{Murder of the Romanovs
Country houses in Kent
Grade II* listed buildings in Kent
Grade II* listed houses
House of Romanov in exile
Borough of Swale