Stoneacre, Kent
| Stoneacre | |
|---|---|
The courtyard
|
|
| Location | Otham, Kent, England |
| Coordinates | 51°15′08″N 0°34′40″E / 51.252209°N 0.577664°ECoordinates: 51°15′08″N 0°34′40″E / 51.252209°N 0.577664°E |
| OS grid reference | TQ7998053494 |
| Elevation | 75 metres (246 ft) |
| Built | Late 15th century |
| Built for | John Ellys |
| Restored | 1920s |
| Restored by | Aymer Vallance |
| Governing body | The National Trust |
| Official name: Stoneacre and Path Between Front Door and Road | |
| Type | Grade II* |
| Designated | 25-Jul-1952 |
| Reference no. | 1250995 |
 Stoneacre shown within Kent
|
|
Stoneacre is a small National Trust property in Otham, near Maidstone, Kent in southern England. The property is a half-timbered yeoman farmer's house dating from the 15th century, together with a small garden, orchard and meadows. The house is a Grade II* listed building.
It is a private residence but opened to visitors on Saturdays and Bank Holiday Mondays from mid March to the end of September. There are toilet facilities, refreshments and car parking available for visitors.
The site overlies an outcrop of Kentish ragstone and from this the name is thought to originate. Hasted's History of Kent mentions that during the reign of Edward II one John Ellys resided here. A will from a century later records another John Ellis who died a wealthy man. His son (also called John Ellys) built the hall house in the 1480s. The steep slope and poor foundation led to problems with the north wing in the middle of the 16th century. The cellars and ground floor had to be rebuilt in stone with buttresses to stop the slippage, as is visible today. At this date high hall houses were going out of fashion and the opportunity was taken to insert and upper floor into the original hall. The Ellys family continued to hold Stoneacre until 1725 when it was sold and occupied by tenants.
In 1920 the ruin was purchased by Aymer Vallance. Aymer was a 58-year-old bachelor when he bought the property, but in 1921 he married Lucy Ada Hennell. Aymer set about reconstructing the house to his vision of a Tudor yeoman's dwelling. As a consequence of reopening the hall to its full height, two bedrooms were lost. These were provided by an extension to the south with the library underneath. The old single-storey scullery to the rear was removed and a 16th-century farmhouse which was to be demolished, North Bore Place from Chiddingstone Kent, was used to build a new two-storey wing westwards from the north end. The new wing provided a servants' hall and kitchen below with two maid's bedrooms above. In 1928 the property was presented to the National Trust.
The front of the house is the eastern elevation. The north end has a stone built lower floor with a timber framed upper. There is no jetty. The central section has the main door and to its left the large hall window going from the foundation plinth to the eaves, the building is timber framed with rendered infilling. This is the hall section, so there is no upper floor and hence no jetty. A two-storey bay with jetty marks the end of the original hall; beyond is a brick-built lower room with a timber-framed upper floor. In the upper floor is a 12-light window which was moved to the new structure. Originally it had lit a bedroom on the 16th-century inserted floor. On the western elevation, at the junction of the new south extension to the original hall, is an octagonal stair turret. Moving northwards there is the original two-storey jettied quarters, the double-height hall with its reconstructed west window. The original building is obscured from just beyond the screens passage by the 20th-century north wing.
...
Wikipedia