Home | Books | Links
| Fortifications and Castles | Other
Information | Help | Downloads
| Author Information | Contact
Knole House
Also known as, or recorded in historical
documents as; Knolle
In the civil parish of Sevenoaks.
In the historic county of Kent (Modern Authority of Medway, 1974 county of Kent).
The origins of this enormous, Kentish ragstone house are obscure, but it is believed that an estate has been in existence here since at least C12. However, it is known that, in 1456, Thomas Bourchier (Archbishop of Canterbury) bought Knole for little more than £266, and set about transforming this fortress-like building into a home 'fit for the Princes of the Church'. For the next 30 years, until his death, he employed his great skills to expand and restore this imposing country house. Knole saw four more Archbishops before Henry VIII took possession of it, enlarging it to a standard befitting a Royal Palace (and at considerable cost), but never actually spending much time there.
This site has been described as a;
Palace
Fortified Manor House.
The confidence
that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Nothing visible remains.
This site is a
Grade 1 listed
building protected by law*. (Images
of England number 172227)
The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TQ53955420
PastScape number;
409840
- Web site links
- Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses Vol3 (Cambridge) p320-25, 364-8
Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p171
Thurley, Simon, 1993, The Royal Palaces of Tudor England (Yale University Press) p50
James, T.B., 1990, The Palaces of Medieval England (London; Seaby)
Newman, John, 1980, The Buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald p356-63
Sackville-West, V., 1922 [rev edn 1947], Knole and the Sackvilles
Phillips, C.J., 1929, The History of the Sackville Family
Tipping, H.A., 1929, English Homes, period 3 Vol1 (London) p222-68
Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol1 (London) p308-10
Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p305--6
- Journal Articles
- 1975, Archaeologia Cantiana Vol91 p1-14
Du Boulay, F.R.H., 1974, Archaeologia Cantiana Vol89 p169-82
Faulkner, P.A., 1970, 'Some medieval archiepiscopal palaces' Archaeological Journal Vol127 p130-46
1874, Archaeologia Cantiana Vol9
Country Life Vol63 p134, 197
Country Life Vol31 p772, 826, 862
- Guidebooks
- Sackville-West, V., 1923, Knole
- Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
Most of the sites or buildings
recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission
to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant |
The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English
Heritage and other individuals and organisations. |
It is an offence to disturb a
Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of
everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from any site
without proper recording and reporting. Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation. |
Please help me to make this as
useful a resource as possible by contacting
me if you see errors
or if you can add information.
I do acknowledge the help I get with
this site. |
*The listed building
may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site
of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.
|
¤¤¤¤¤
