More information : [TQ 64606052] Court Lodge (NAT) Remains of a Palace (NR)
(1)
Gundulf, Bp. of Rochester, was allotted the manor of Trottescliffe
soon after his election in 1077. An episcopal palace was erected
but by 1185 the buildings were so ruinous that they had to be
rebuilt. It was again improved by Hamo De Heth, Bp. 1319-52, who
built a kitchen two dining-rooms and outhouses and surrounded the
house with walls.
Some years after the Reformation the palace was leased out and is
held by the Whitaker family. (2)
Add. ref. (3)
Add. ref. to Authy. 2. In 1918 there was nothing left of
the palace except the indication of its former size in the very high
rooms of the farmhouse. A coating of cement had "utterly destroyed
its character". The house is approached by an apparently 17th c.
brick gateway and three of the original fishponds survive. Many old
outhouses had been recently demolished. (4)
'Court Lodge' (name confirmed by the owner) is a brick two-storey
private residence of the 17c. The house has been refaced on the
south side and plastered over. The lower courses of the W. wall are
of flint and ironstone evidently a fragment of the former palace. An
outbuilding at the rear of the house contains a fragment of flint
walling in the west side with a small original square-headed stone
window apparently in situ. The gateway, comprising two large square
pillars of ornamental brick, each surmounted by a stone ball finial,
and the S and E garden walls are contemporary with the present house.
GP/AO/59/187/2 from South. An Antiquity Model Survey has been done.
Three ponds to the south of Court Lodge (shown by Authority 1, and
certainly those referred to by Authority 4 as Fishponds) are now
filled in with waste, the northernmost two are grassed over, the
southern one is boggy. They bear in shape little resemblance to
artificially constructed fishponds. (5)
No change. (6)
TQ 66 SW TROTTISCLIFFE C.P. CHURCH ROAD 2/24 (north side)
1.8.52 Court Lodge GV II
House. C18 with C19 alterations. Red brick, the front elevation
cement rendered. Hipped plain tiled roof with central brick stack
off-ridge to rear and hipped dormer to left. 2 storeys; 4 window
first-floor, C18 glazing bar sashes with open boxes. 2 window
ground-floor, both C19 glazing bar sashes, one single, one
tripartite. Central panelled door in architrave moulded surround.
TQ 66 SW TROTTISCLIFFE C.P. CHURCH ROAD 2/28 (north side) 1.8.52
Front boundary wall to Court Lodge GV II
Wall. C18. Red and blue brick on random stone plinth. 4 feet high.
Central pair of rusticated brick piers. Central gate with spearhead
rails the piers were originally surmounted by stone globes,
temporarily removed at time of re-survey. (7)
Court Lodge, 18th century, with big rusticated brick
gatepiers. (8)
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