| Summary : Premonstratensian abbey founded by Ralph de Dene circa 1180 which, about 1208, became united to Bayham Abbey, and was thereafter a grange of Bayham Abbey, (TQ63NE5), suppressed in 1526. The house is a T-shaped 15th century timber-framed building, mostly refaced with red brick, grey headers and some stone but the timbering and close-studding exposed in the north wall of the west wing. |
More information : (TQ 58670572) Remains of Otteham Court (NAT) Abbey (NR)
(Premonstratensian founded AD 1180-7) (NAT) (1)
(TQ 58770571) Chapel (NR) (Remains of) (2)
Otham Abbey: Founded 1180-7. Dissolved 1208-11. The abbey was moved to Bayham Kent (TQ 6436) c 1207, and Otham became a grange with a chapel which was probably served by one of the canons of Bayham. It was a house of Premonstratensian canons. (3)
Very little of the monastery remains, of the habitation of the canons apparently nothing, unless it be a small portion of the basement storey of the present farmhouse, or the N side where there is some evidence of old material incorporated in the more modern part of the building. The well is probably original. St Laurence's Chapel, is little altered and is used as a stable. (4)
Otham Court or Otham Abbey Farm is a 15th c T-shaped timber-framed building. St Laurence's Chapel dates from about 1350. (5)
Otham Court, a farmhouse in good condition. 18th c N. wing; much renovated and altered 16th/17th c S-wing. The E-W centre block is substantially of 15th c date. Its N face is of ashlar with close-studded half-timbering above, there are 2 small square stone windows, widely splayed on the inside, and there is a large Tudor fireplace within, but there are no other dateable features.
The chapel, now a storehouse, is of flint and greensand with greensand dressings, much repaired with various materials. There are 2 twin, trefoil-headed windows of 14th c date, and a pointed arched doorway. In the W wall is a blocked doorway and high in the E wall, a large blocked window, both with pointed arches. The building is in poor condition.
The wall referred to by Cooper (Authy 4) is, Mrs Parsons believes, beneath paving stones close to the E wall of the house, but she has never seen it exposed. No other wells are known to exist. The moat-like stretch of water, 30.0m E of the house is a natural feature, as are the other various ponds around the house. (6)
5208 POLEGATE OTHAM COURT LANE
Otteham Court (formerly listed as Otham Court)
TQ 50 NE 18/205 13.10.52 II
Ralph de Dene founded an abbey for Premonstratensian Canons here about 1180 which, about 1208, became a grange of Bayham Abbey, Kent, suppressed in 1526. The house is a T-shaped C15 timber-framed building, mostly refaced with red brick, grey headers and some stone but the timbering and close-studding exposed in the north wall of the west wing. Hipped tiled roof. Casement windows. Two storeys. Five windows. The east front has a gable with cusped bargeboards and an attic window, also 3 brick buttresses to the ground floor.
The Chapel at Otteham Court to the north-west of the house
TQ 50 NE 18/205A 13.10.52 II*
Dedicated to St Lawrence. Small building dating from about 1350. Stone rubble and flints, patched with red brick. Slate roof. Three buttresses to south front. North and south walls each have a pointed window with the remains of tracery in the head and a dripstone over. The east wall has a large blocked pointed window. West wall has a blocked pointed doorway. The interior has a single sedilia and a piscina. (7) |