Knole
Knole | |
---|---|
Country house | |
Location | TQ53955420 |
Area | Kent |
Built | Mostly 1455–1608 |
Architectural style(s) | Jacobean architecture with other earlier and later styles |
Owner | National Trust |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
Official name | Knole |
Designated | 14 April 1951 |
Reference no. | 1336390 |
National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens | |
Official name | Knole |
Designated | 1 May 1986 |
Reference no. | 1000183 |
Knole (/noʊl/) is a country house and former archbishop's palace owned by the National Trust. It is situated within Knole Park, a 1,000-acre (400-hectare) park located immediately to the south-east of Sevenoaks in west Kent. The house ranks in the top five of England's largest houses, under any measure used, occupying a total of four acres.[1]
The current house dates back to the mid-15th century, with major additions in the 16th and, particularly, the early 17th centuries. Its
History
Location
Knole is located at the southern end of Sevenoaks, in the Weald of west Kent. To the north, the land slopes down to the Darenth valley and the narrow fertile pays of Holmesdale, at the foot of the North Downs.
Early history
The earliest recorded owner of the core of the estate, in the 1290s, was Robert de Knole. However, nothing is known of any property he had on the estate. Two other families, the Grovehursts and the Ashburnhams, are known to have held the estate in succession until the 1360s, and the manor of Knole is first mentioned in 1364.[10] In 1419, the estate, which then spread over 800 acres, had been bought by Thomas Langley, Bishop of Durham, and by 1429, he had extended it to 1,500 acres.[11] The estate remained in the hands of the Langley family, it seems, until the mid-1440s when it had been acquired by James Fiennes, first Lord Saye and Sele. The circumstances of this transfer are not known, but it is clear that Lord Saye and Sele was also enlarging the estate by further, sometimes forcible, purchases of adjoining parcels of land. For example, in 1448 one Reginald Peckham was forced to sell land at Seal (at the north-eastern end of the current estate) to Saye "on threat of death".[12] Forcible land transfers recur in the later history of the house, including that between Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and Henry VIII.
Lord Saye and Sele seems to have begun a building project at Knole, but it was incomplete by his death in 1450.
Archbishop Bourchier's House
James Fiennes's heir, William, second
In subsequent years, Knole House continued to be enlarged, with the addition of a large courtyard, now known as Green Court, and a new entrance tower. These were long thought to be the work of one of Bourchier's successors, but the detailed study by Alden Gregory suggests that Bourchier was responsible. He took advantage of the political stability that followed the restoration of Edward IV in 1471 to invest further in his property.[18]
Knole in the Tudor period
After
Cardinal Bourchier had enclosed the park with a pale to make a deer park and it seems that
Warham's successor as archbishop, Thomas Cranmer, acquired all the temporalities of the See of Canterbury. However, these brought with them substantial debts and complex demands of land management, set against a backdrop of massive land transfers associated with the
Knole was granted to
In the early 1560s,
There was competition at that time for the Knole estate. Rolf died very soon after, and the residue of the lease was bought by a wealthy local lawyer, John Lennard (of Chevening). He had gradually built up a network of properties around Sevenoaks, including the manor of Chevening, and adjoining property in the parishes of Knockholt and Halstead, all just to the north of Sevenoaks.[28] Lennard had already pressurised Rolf to sell the lease before his sudden death but, at the same point, Lord Buckhurst was also competing for the lease. Knole was a significant addition to Lennard's local land-holdings when it was confirmed, around 1570. However, Buckhurst was still able to insist upon some rights on the estate, including the ownership of at least some of the deer in the park.[29] John moved to Knole, but gave his son Sampson, Lord Dacre's son-in-law, a sub-lease.[30] The Knole estate was worth a great deal to Sampson, bringing him in 1599 rents worth £218, 6s and 8d.[31]
One of Sampson Lennard's daughters, Margaret, married Sir Thomas Waller, at one time lieutenant of Dover Castle and the younger son of an important Kent family, with their seat at
Early-Stuart Knole and the Sackvilles
Since Dudley had originally granted a 99-year lease, Thomas Sackville could only take it back by buying out the remaining 51 years of the lease for £4,000, which he did in 1603. Lennard was happy to sell, not only because of his mounting debts but also because he wished to gain the
Thomas Sackville, at that time Lord Buckhurst, had considered a number of other sites to build a house commensurate with his elevated status in court and government. However, he could not overlook the multiple advantages of Knole: a good supply of spring water (rare for a house on a hill), plentiful timber, a deer park and close enough proximity to London.[36] He immediately began a large building programme. This was supposed to have been completed within two years, employing some 200 workmen, but the partially-surviving accounts show that there was continuing, vast expenditure even in 1608–1609.[30] Since Sackville had had a distinguished career at court under Elizabeth and then been appointed Lord High Treasurer to James VI and I, he had the resources to undertake such a programme. Perhaps, with his renovations to the state rooms at Knole, Sackville hoped to receive a visit by the King, but this does not seem to have occurred and the lord treasurer himself died during the building work, in April 1608, at the age of about 72.
Thomas Sackville's Jacobean great house, like others such as
Thomas's son, Robert Sackville, second earl of Dorset, took over the titles and estates, gave a description of his father's work on re-modelling Knole: "late re-edified wth a barne, stable, dovehouse and other edifices, together wth divers Courts, the gardens orchards and wilderness invironed wth a stone wall, well planted wth choise frute, and beawtified wth ponds, and manie other pleasureable delights and devises are situate wthin the Parke of knoll, the charge of new building of the said house and making planting and furnishing of the said ponds yards gardens orchards and wilderness about Seaven yeares past Thirty thosand pounds at the least yet exstant uppon Accounpts. All wch are now in the Earle of dorsetts owne occupacon and are worth to bee sold."[39]
The second earl did not enjoy Knole for long, since he died in January 1609.[40] His two sons, in turn, inherited the title and estates, first Richard Sackville, third earl of Dorset (1589–1624) and then the much more politically significant Edward Sackville, fourth earl of Dorset (1590–1652).[41] None of these earls lived permanently at Knole. In the first earl's case, this was no doubt due to the renovations. The third earl lived mostly at court, though he is known to have kept his hunting horses and hounds there.[42]
The wife of the 3rd Earl, Lady Anne Clifford, lived at Knole for a time during the couple's conflict over her inheritance from her father, George Clifford, third earl of Cumberland.[43] A catalogue of the household of the Earl and Countess of Dorset at Knole from this time survives. It records the names and roles of servants and indicates where they sat at dinner. The list includes two African servants, Grace Robinson, a maid in the laundry, and John Morockoe, who worked in the kitchen. Both are described as "Blackamoors".[44] In 1623, a large part of Knole House burnt down.[45]
Knole during the Civil War, Commonwealth and Restoration
Edward, a relatively moderate royalist, was away from Knole in the summer of 1642, when he and his cousin and factotum Sir John Sackville fell under suspicion of stockpiling arms and preparing local men to fight for
Sandys's troops then moved to Knole where, according to the earl of Dorset's steward, they caused damage to the value of £186, and 'The Armes they have wholie taken awaie there being five wagenloads of them (sic passim).' Parliament established County Committees to govern the counties under its control. For the first 12 to 18 months of its operation, the Kent Committee was based at Knole, until its obvious disadvantage, being at one end of a very large county, led to its removal first to Aylesford and then to Maidstone.[52] Apart from the committee, the county treasury was based here, along with a bodyguard of between 75 and 150 men and the so-called 'Household'. To provision its varied occupants, the Committee not only used the Knole estate but also rented fields from local landowners, including, surprisingly, Lady Sackville (Sir John's wife). Some accounts for the period survive. They show, for example, a gift of a few pounds to goodman Skinner for 'looking to Knole Parkgate.' Other expenditure was seen as much more extravagant, including £3091 for the Household, called the 'seraglio' by local enemies. Committee meetings were held in the room now known as Poets' Parlour where, in addition to using the existing furnishings, £153 was spent on sheets, table linen and carpets and £22 on silverware, candlesticks, glasses, jugs and drinking horns. Additional beds were also brought from Kippington, Thomas Farnaby's sequestered house from the other side of Sevenoaks. One indication of the religious issues involved in the War is shown from the expenditure of £1 17s 4d for the 'carpenters and others employed in taking away the rails and levelling the ground in the chapel at Knole'.[53] Nevertheless, the committee had moved to Aylesford Priory before April 1645.[54]
When Edward Sackville died in 1652, his son Richard inherited not only the earldom, but estates in substantial debt, not least owing to fines imposed by Parliament for his father's role in the Civil War. He practised quiet retrenchment, despite taking part in some public work following the
Charles was an important figure in the late Stuart court; Vita Sackville-West calls him 'one of the most jovial and debonair figures in the Knole portrait-gallery.'
As the heir to the earl of Middlesex's estates, he obtained the new creation earl of Middlesex in 1674. In January 1688, his son, Lionel Sackville, was born at Knole. When Charles died in 1706, Lionel inherited.[61]
Knole since 1700
Lionel Sackville was a key supporter of the
Lionel's son, Charles, 2nd Duke of Dorset, only survived his father by four years, but his grandson
John Frederick's only son, George, the fourth duke, died in 1815 aged 21, and Knole was then left by the third Duke's widow in 1825 to their daughter Mary, Countess of Plymouth. She died childless in 1864, leaving it to her sister Countess De La Warr and her heirs male. It ultimately passed to the latter's fourth son, Mortimer Sackville-West, 1st Baron Sackville, and thence to his successors.[66] However, Lord Sackville's resources were insufficient to maintain the house and its possessions. He began selling a number of the heirlooms to enable him to keep the estate going.[67]
The Sackville-West descendants included writer Vita Sackville-West.[68] Her Knole and the Sackvilles, published 1922, is regarded as a classic in the literature of English country houses. Its rather romantic style is sometimes of dubious historical accuracy but it is based upon full access to the manuscripts and books at that time in the House's collection, though many are now in the Kent County Archives (originally at the Centre for Kentish Studies; hence CKS in some catalogue records, and now at the Kent History and Library Centre) in Maidstone.[69]
It was soon after this book's publication, in December 1922, that Vita first met Virginia Woolf who, became a friend and, for a while in the later 1920s, her lover.[70] Woolf wrote Orlando over the winter of 1927–1928, an experimental, though accessible, novel which drew on the history of the house and Sackville-West's ancestors, particularly as presented in Vita's book.[71] The Sackville family custom of following the Salic rules of primogeniture was to prevent Vita from inheriting Knole upon the death of her father Lionel (1867–1928), the 3rd Lord Sackville. As she was not philoprogenitive, this was as well, but the thought hung heavily on her at this time. Woolf gave her a fantastical version of Knole and, when Vita had read it, she wrote to Virginia, 'You made me cry with your passages about Knole, you wretch.'[72] This sentiment may be heightened by the uses of Vita as a historical model for some of the photos in the original Hogarth edition. Three of these are, in fact, adapted from pictures at Knole: 'Orlando as a boy' from the young Edward Sackville in the double portrait; 'Archduchess Harriet' from a picture of Mary, fourth countess of Somerset in Lord Sackville's private collection and 'Orlando as Ambassador' from a portrait of Lionel Sackville, the first duke of Dorset by Rosalba Carriera.[73] On her father's death in 1928, the house and estate went to Lionel's younger brother, Charles (1870–1962).[35] However, if Vita had to leave Knole, Orlando remained; the original manuscript of what Vita's son, Nigel Nicolson called, 'the longest and most charming love-letter in literature' is there.[74] It is perhaps fairer to see it as a work of consolation to Vita, though it is one that also contains a number of barbed comments about Knole and the Sackvilles, with its altered versions of letters and lists:
Already – it is an effect lists have upon us – we are beginning to yawn. But if we stop, it is only that the catalogue is tedious, not that it is finished. There are ninety-nine pages more of it … . And so on and so on.[75]
Art and architecture
House
Although its complex history reveals Knole to have been the result of many periods of development, its national importance is primarily for its 17th-century structure. As Newton puts it:
- Knole is neither sublime nor picturesque. It is, however, especially in the distant view, authentic, looking almost exactly now as it did in the year Thomas Sackville died... . No English great house but Haddon has managed to remain motionless like this since the early-seventeenth century, balanced between growth and decay.[76]
At the time of Sackville's rebuilding, little notice was taken of his work. It was not at the forefront of architectural development and, in 1673, John Evelyn called it '‘a great old fashioned house', quite unlike the classical style favoured by Inigo Jones and also illustrated by Thomas Howard, the first earl of Suffolk's almost contemporary rebuilding of Audley End.[77] Knole may no longer look much like Bourchier's late-medieval house, but it can still give the impression of a sombre, squat, complex of houses, not least thanks to its use of the dark Kentish ragstone. However, Town asserts its importance, arguing that 'what Sackville achieved at Knole was a remarkable synthesis of what was inherited from the existing fabric and what was newly built.'[78] He had taken a great, late-medieval house for a series of archbishops of Canterbury, usually among the most powerful men in the state, which had already experienced other changes of function and occupancy during the sixteenth century, and made it a Jacobean country house. Sackville recommended the "very excellent surveyor" John Thorpe to survey and make "plots" in 1605 for the rebuilding of Ampthill for Anne of Denmark and Prince Henry, and may have employed him on his own building projects.[79]
Beyond the Jacobean facade, plentiful evidence still exists of the earlier house. One of the main surviving elements is the northern range of Stone Court. The upper floors contain a series of high-status apartments, and these are demonstrated by a number of structural features, such as the series of large garderobe towers protruding on the north side and the cellars below, which contain some late-15th-century wall paintings.[80]
In 2013, Knole was granted £7.75m by the Heritage Lottery Fund for conservation and repair work to the House.
Rooms
The many state rooms open to the public contain a collection of 17th-century royal
The organ, in the late medieval private chapel at Knole, is arguably the oldest playable organ in England. The organ has four ranks of oak pipes (Stopped Diapason 8, Principal 4, Twelfth 22/3 and Fifteenth 2) contained in a rectangular ornamented chest with the keyboard at the top. Its date of construction is not known, but an early guidebook refers to a marked date of 1623 (although no such date mark is still apparent) – a date in the 1620s has been suggested. The pitch of the organ is sharp (A460 Hz) and the foot-pumped bellows remain in working order.[85]
Collections
The National Trust has a digital record of most of its Knole collection. It contains internationally important collections, particularly of 17th-century state furniture.[86]
Ownership, care and uses
The house is cared for and opened by the
There is an oft repeated myth that Knole is a calendar house, which had 365 rooms, 52 staircases, 12 entrances and seven courtyards. While the number of rooms is approximately correct, the number of staircases has been reduced by internal renovations and changes.[87] Traditionally, there have been seven spaces called courts – Green Court, Stable Court, Stone Court, Water Court, Queen's Court, Pheasant Court and Men's Court.[88] This definition is somewhat loose, with additional courtyards such as Brewhouse Yard and Carpenters Yard not included.
In January 2012, the National Trust launched a seven-year plan to conserve and restore the house, including a public appeal for £2.7M.[89]
Gardens
Knole has a 26 acres (11 ha) walled garden (30 including the 'footprint' of the house).
Remainder of the park
Overall the house is set in its 1,000-acre (400 ha) deer park. This has generally been kept in traditional condition; however, the controlled deer population does not have access to all parts. Due to the rich woodland, Knole Park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.[90] The park hosts the annual Knole Run, a schools cross-country race.
Commercial and cultural uses
Knole was the setting for the filming in January 1967 of the Beatles' videos that accompanied the release of "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever". The stone archway through which the four Beatles rode on horses can still be seen on the southeastern side of the Bird House, which itself is on the southeastern side of Knole House. The same visit to Knole Park inspired another Beatles song, "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!," which John Lennon wrote after buying an 1843 poster in a nearby antiques shop that advertised Pablo Fanque's Circus Royal.[92]
Knole also appears in the 2008 film
The British Film Institute has a freely-available, family home film from 1961, showing how the park looked at that time.[98] A 1950 film made by the Sevenoaks Ciné Society, an amateur group, features the house in Hikers' Haunt.[99]
See also
- John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset
- Lionel Bertrand Sackville-West, 6th Baron Sackville
References
- ^ a b Ravilious, Kate (21 December 2015). "The Many Lives of an English Manor House". Archaeology. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
- ^ British Archaeology, May–June 2018/160, p. 54.
- ^ Taylor, p. 158.
- ^ the term comes from Everitt, 1986,; see, especially, pp. 69–70.
- ^ Du Boulay, 1950, pp. 2–3.
- ^ Taylor, p. 157.
- ^ Du Boulay, 1950, p. 2.
- ^ Gregory, p.168
- ^ Taylor, pp. 167–168.
- ^ Gregory, pp. 11–12.
- ^ Du Boulay, 1950, p .6; Newman, p. 337.
- ^ Du Boulay, 1950, pp. 7–8.
- ^ Gregory, p. 20.
- ^ Harvey
- ^ Du Boulay, 1950, p. 6.
- ^ Du Boulay, 1950, pp. 135–139.
- ^ Clark
- ^ Gregory, pp. 72–83.
- ^ Sackville-West, p. 48
- ^ a b Brady, pp. 1 and 142–148.
- ^ Rymer, vol. 12. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rymer-foedera/vol12/pp397-434. Hasted, erroneously, believes these references were to Henry VIII's reign: Hasted, vol. 3, 'Sevenoke', footnote 12
- ^ Taylor, pp. 163–5
- ^ The National Archive: PRO, Exchequer, E 101/421/10
- ^ du Boulay, 1952, pp.20–22.
- ^ du Boulay, 1952, pp.24–26
- ^ Barrett Lennard, p.116.
- ^ Barrett Lennard, pp. 116–117.
- ^ Barrett Lennard, pp. 10–14.
- ^ Barrett Lennard, p.123
- ^ a b Zim
- ^ Barrett Lennard, p. 231.
- ^ Town, p. 135.
- ^ Donnagan
- ^ Town, pp.118 and 136–137
- ^ a b c Edward Hasted (1797). "Parishes: Sevenoke". The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 3. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
- ^ Town, chapter 3
- ^ Coward & Gaunt, p.149.
- ^ Newman, p. 339.
- ^ Centre for Kentish Studies, U269 T1 Bdl. A., quoted in Town, p. 122
- ^ Graves
- ^ Smith (2008)
- ^ Newton, p. xiii; Taylor, pp. 165–166.
- ^ Spence (2004); Newton, p.xiv.
- ^ D. J. H. Clifford, The Diaries of Lady Anne Clifford (Stroud, 1990), pp. 274–276.
- ^ Newton, p.xiv.
- ^ Everitt (1966), pp. 71, 111. House of Lords Journal for Monday 15 August 1642
- ^ Phillips (1918), pp. 125–129.
- ^ Smith (1989), p. 330.
- ^ House of Lords Journal for Monday 15 August 1642
- ^ Everitt (1966), p. 120.
- ^ Early English Books Online, Thomason / 14:E.83[19]
- ^ Everitt (1966), p. 130.
- ^ Everitt(1966), pp. 165–167
- ^ Everitt (1960), p. 117
- ^ 'Richard Sackville fifth earl of Dorset (1622–1677), politician', a short section at the end of Smith (2008); Sackville-West (1922), p. 111
- ^ Sackville-West (1922), p. 111.
- ^ a b Laing, p. 160
- ^ Sackville-West (1922), p. 115.
- ^ Love (2008)
- ^ Sackville-West (1922), pp. 149–151.
- ^ Burns, 2008.
- ^ Burns (2008)
- ^ Burns (2008).
- ^ Sackville-West (1922), p.167.
- ^ Laing, p.161.
- ^ Sackville-West (1984), pp.55–56.
- ^ Laing, p.162.
- ^ a b c d Knole House – Grade I architectural and historical listing – Historic England. "Knole (1336390)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
- ^ Sackville-West (1922)
- ^ Whitworth, p. xiii.
- ^ Woolf (1928); Whitworth, p. xii.
- ^ quoted in Whitworth, p.. xxxviii.
- ^ Whitworth, pp. 195–6.
- ^ Whitworth, p. xli.; https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/knole/features/vita-sackville-west-and-knole
- ^ See Woolf, "Orlando", chapter 2, p. 77 in the Penguin edition.
- ^ Newton, p.339.
- ^ Town, pp. 1–2.
- ^ Town, p.vi.
- ^ HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 17 (London, 1938), pp. 349–350.
- ^ Forde, pp. 3; 8–9.
- ^ British Archaeology, May–June 2018/160, p.55
- ^ Kennedy, Maev (5 November 2014). "Witch marks fit for a king beguile archaeologists at Knole". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
- ^ Champion, pp. 36–41
- ^ Wormald
- ^ Andrew Benson-Wilson, January 2002 in "Thomas Tallis: The Complete Works, Volume 5" at signumrecords.com
- ^ Ltd, e3 Media. "Knole". www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b "Knole". National Trust.
- ^ Jackson-Stops, p.8.
- ^ "National Trust launches appeal to save Knole House". BBC News. 14 January 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
- ^ a b Knole (Park and Garden) listing under the Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953 within the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens by English Heritage for its special historic interest Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1000183)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
- , retrieved 14 June 2023
- ^ Turner, Steve (1994). A Hard Day's Write. New York: HarperCollins.
- ^ Kent Film Office. "Kent Film Office The Other Boleyn Girl Film Focus".
- ^ Harrod, Horatia (4 October 2010). "Burke and Hare: behind the scenes". The Daily Telegraph.
- ^ Kent Film Office. "Kent Film Office Burke & Hare Film Focus".
- ^ Kent Film Office. "Kent Film Office Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows Film Focus".
- ^ Kent Film Office. "Kent Film Office Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides Film Focus".
- ^ "Watch Ashlee Family Films: Knole Park, Sevenoaks (1961)". BFI Player.
- ^ "Watch Hiker's Haunt". BFI Player.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Centre for Kentish Studies, U269 T1 Bdl. A.
- Early English Books Online, Thomason / 14:E.83[19]. Two speeches spoken at the councell-table at Oxford. The one, by the Right Honourable John Earle of Bristoll, in favour of the continuation of the present warre. The other, by the Right Honourable Edward Earle of Dorset, for a speedy accommodation betwixt His Majestie, and his high court of Parliament. Printed at Oxford by Leonard Lichfield, And now reprinted at LONDON for Iohn Hanson (1642).
- House of Lords Journal for Monday 15 August 1642 (18 Car 289 vol 5; https://www.british-history.ac.uk/lords-jrnl/vol5/pp288-293#h3-0006).
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