St John's Jerusalem or Sutton-at-Hone Preceptory is a

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

property at

Sutton-at-Hone Sutton-at-Hone is a village in the civil parish of Sutton-at-Hone and Hawley in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England. It is located 3.5 miles south of Dartford & 3.6 miles north east of Swanley. History The place-name 'Sutton-at-Hone' is fi ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

which includes the 13th century chapel of the Knights Hospitaller and a garden moated by 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. 'Darenth' is frequently found as the spelling of the river's name in older books and ...

. The chapel and garden are open to the public.

History

It was established in 1199 as a

Commandry In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and G ...

of the Knights Hospitaller of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem until it was sold to Sir Maurice Denys, the Receiver of the Order at the time of the Dissolution. The

mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...

sections of the property were predominantly constructed around 1234, when Henry III procured the felling of five

oak tree An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the Fagaceae, beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northe ...

s from Tonbridge Forest. By 1388, the property had ceased to be used as a preceptory. Naturalist Abraham Hill established an orchard here in 1670, with apples and pears from

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

and

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

that were used for making

cider Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the Fermented drink, fermented Apple juice, juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and Ireland. The United Kingdom has the world's highest ...

and

perry Perry or pear cider is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally in England (particularly Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire), parts of South Wales, France (especially Normandy and Anjou), Canada, Austral ...

. Varieties that were introduced into Kent as a result included the Kentish Pippin. From 1755 it was the home of the county historian of Kent,

Edward Hasted Edward Hasted (20 December 1732 OS (31 December 1732 NS) – 14 January 1812) was an English antiquarian and pioneering historian of his ancestral home county of Kent. As such, he was the author of a major county history, ''The History and ...

. His excessive expenditure on the property may have been responsible for his bankruptcy in 1796, and subsequent term of imprisonment of five years. The building was given to the nation in 1943 by Sir Stephen Tallents, and was open to the public twice a week in the 1950s. The property has been a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

since 1 August 1952 and was scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as a site of national importance by the Secretary of State for National Heritage on 5 September 1994. It is now let from the National Trust as a private residence. Public access is to the chapel and garden only.

Priors of the Hospital

Radyngton, John, fl. 1396 Botell, Robert, fl. 1460 Weston, John, fl. 1485

Grounds

The moat dates from the 13th century, and surrounds an artificial island of 22,200m². The moat is bridged three times, including by a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

19th century brick footbridge. The grounds contain a cedar of Lebanon. Only the south-western section of the moat is part of the

. The moat has, however, suffered from environmental problems. It ran dry in both 1976 and 1988 and was affected by sedimentation and pollution after a recent

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

of the Darent. The dredging was attempted in order to foster the appearance of a 1930s '' Country Life'' setting. However, it had to be halted after it was discovered that scheduled monument consent had not been obtained. Although it was subsequently granted, the

sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

of such techniques has been called into question. The garden also hosts a former fishpond, now occupied by

marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...

lands. Before the dissolution of the monasteries, the lawn to the north of the property was used as burial ground for the chapel, but thereafter as a

midden A midden is an old dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bones, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human oc ...

.N. Bannister,
Kent & East Sussex
, ''Annual Archaeological Review 1999-2000'' (

(ed.)) (London, 2001), p. 41.

References

External links

St John's Jerusalem information
at the National Trust {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint John's Jerusalem National Trust properties in Kent Preceptories of the Knights Hospitaller in England Borough of Dartford Grade II* listed buildings in Kent 1199 establishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 1190s