This section of the 1891 O.S. map shows the North Lodge, Dunsdale Farm and the Victorian gothic mansion itself, built for and occupied by a wealthy industrialist Joseph Kitchin in 1858. In 1880 the estate was sold to William Bryant, but by 1885 had been resold and purchased piece by piece over then next four ...
Reference: WH1045
The three big houses in the town could also be considered estate houses as they had extensive grounds and land ownership. On the 1869 map shown here these were 1 The Grange, 2 Winterton House, 3 Squerryes Lodge.
Reference: 0085
On the south side of the High Street stands Winterton House, so named from its having been the residence of Harriet née Board, the Countess Winterton in the early nineteenth century. The current Winterton House was reputedly built in 1811 by Hughes Minet a wealthy Huguenot and there are indeed Minet descendants buried in the ...
Reference: 0086
‘The Grange’ was a large estate which included The Paddock and all the land Churchill School now stands on, Fir Cottage at the bottom of the School drive, ‘Knipes Cottages’ next to today’s Castle Antiques, and the little row of cottages leading from them down London Road towards today’s Touchline Physiotherapy business. These were ‘Grange ...
Reference: 0087
In 1884 Norman Watney bought Valence and by the turn of the century had dramatically altered the estate, building a new mansion on the hill beside the home farmstead and levelling to the ground the old neo-classical mansion known as ‘Hill Park’. No sooner had he bought Valence than he commissioned the architect Frederick J. ...
Reference: 0089
This detailed plan shows the coach road from the north lodge via Home Farm crosses the lake and goes right round the mansion to arrive outside the doorway on the north-west tower.
Reference: 0092
Squerryes Lodge. As the name implies, the Lodge of Squerryes Court, this venerable old building is tucked away at the end of Lodge Lane, on the north bank of the fledgeling River Darent. Hookers Almanack for March 2nd 1889 records: Funeral of Mrs Mariana Warde, widow of the late Admiral Charles Warde, of Squerryes Court, who died ...
Reference: 0088
A prolific crop, the hop ‘pockets’ stand in numbered order ready for dispatch. Each is stamped with the grower’s name, Joseph Kitchin. The long brick built ‘kiln’ was used for drying the hops prior to weighing and bagging.
Reference: WH0994
Renowned for the standard of its hop gardens, Dunsdale Home Farm would employ several families of hop-pickers for the August harvest as seen in this 1890s photograph from the Frederick Benson collection.
Reference: WH0996
This 1900s photograph shows the formal ‘pleasure gardens’ in front of the house with a large expanse laid to lawn, leading down to the lake. As the following photograph shows, the carriage road approached the house from the left of this view to arrive behind the house.
Reference: 0007
This view looking west down the High Street has a dream-like quality to it, without a soul about. The photograph is badly stained giving a fog-like look with a gloomy sky, but it was actually taken mid afternoon on a sunny day as revealed by the shadows on the facade of Winterton House on the ...
Reference: WH1047
The approach road was bordered by rhododendrons at the time of this photograph taken in the 1900s. There is a marked symmetry between the north and south facades of the house, apart from the portico entrance from the carriage road.
Reference: 0004