The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and …

1 The kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for tunbridge Wells borough Ladham House, Goudhurst April 2009 Ladham House Goudhurst, kent TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION SITE DESCRIPTION LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: Boundary map. FIGURE 2: Key views map. FIGURE 3: Key features map. FIGURE 4: Aerial photograph. FIGURES ONLY ON CD FIGURE 5: A Map of a farm formerly called the Spread Eagle but now the Star and Crown 1726. Medway Archives. FIGURE 6: Andrews, Dury and Herbert map of kent 1769.

2 FIGURE 7: Hasted map for Goudhurst 1778. FIGURE 8: William Mudge, A New and Accurate Survey of kent 1801. FIGURE 9: A Plan of an Estate called the Star and Crown Goudhurst 1823. Medway Archives ref. CCRc P24. FIGURE 10: Tithe Map 1840. FIGURE 11: 1st edn 25 OS map 1870 Sheet 62/14. FIGURE 12: 2nd edn 25 OS map 1895 Sheet 62/14. FIGURE 13: 3rd edn 25 OS map 1906 Sheet 62/14. FIGURE 14: Revd edn 25 OS map 1938 Sheet 62/14. FIGURE 15: Postcards of Ladham House 1897 and 1935. Goudhurst and Kilndown History Society.

3 FIGURE 16: Photograph of Ladham House. Jessel collection. FIGURE 17: Extract from Ladham House sales particulars 24 May 1870. FIGURE 18: Tom Wright, The Gardens of Britain. kent , East and West Sussex and Surrey (1978). FIGURE 19: Photographs of Ladham House January 2009. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS With many thanks to the owners of Ladham House for allowing access to the gardens and commenting on the site description; and to the gardeners for sharing their knowledge of the gardens development. INTRODUCTION This site dossier and description has been prepared as part of the Review of The kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for tunbridge Wells borough 2009, and should be read in conjunction with the full project report which can be found at This site is one of many sites that have been researched.

4 Visited and written about across the borough and as a consequence has been included in the revised list of Historic Parks and Gardens covered by the borough Councils Planning Policies. The list is not conclusive and further gardens may be added over time as research continues or information comes to light The review for tunbridge Wells borough was a pilot project to establish a partnership and methodology for the review of the Compendium across kent and provide an example of good practice across the County and the region.

5 The research was largely carried out by volunteers of the kent Gardens Trust with support and training from the project consultants Virginia Hinze and Dr Barbara Simms. The extent of the area identified represents the remains of the designed landscape and does not necessarily cover all remaining elements or the historical extent of landscape changes and takes no account of current ownership. Further Information is available from the contacts listed below. The partnership would like to thank the volunteers and owners who have participated in this project and given so much of their time, effort and hospitality to complete this challenging and rewarding task.

6 Planning Services tunbridge Wells borough Council Town Hall Royal tunbridge Wells kent TN1 1RS 01892 526121 kent County Council Heritage Conservation Invicta House County Hall Maidstone ME14 1XX 01622 696918 kent Gardens Trust High Weald AONB Unit Woodland Enterprise Centre Hastings Road Flimwell East Sussex TN5 7PR 01580 879500 SITE DESCRIPTION kent LADHAM HOUSE tunbridge WELLS GOUDHURST TQ 7330 3881 SUMMARY OF THE Historic INTEREST Formal gardens laid out from the mid-C19 around an early C19 mansion and set within extensive parkland with a ha-ha.

7 In the late C19 the gardens were re-designed to accompany an enlarged mansion in Italianate villa style. CHRONOLOGY OF THE Historic DEVELOPMENT Ladham House, in the hundred of Marden, occupies a site that in 1726 was woodland (Laddom Wood) attached to Spread Eagle Farm and leased to Thomas Stennard from the Dean and Chapter of Rochester Cathedral (Spread Eagle Farmery). There were no buildings in this woodland until 1769, when a farmhouse named Latten was built at the south-east corner (Andrews, Dury and Herbert).

8 By 1813, the land was leased by a Mr Ralph Oakden and a Mr Richard White, who, under the terms of their lease, had agreed to build a cottage in Ladham Wood, now grubbed (Cathedral Survey). In 1823 the cottage is shown with formally laid out gardens to its south and south-west with a paddock, an orchard and fields to its north-east (The Star and Crown Plan). In 1831, some 250m north-east of the cottage and on the site of the present Ladham House, Oakden built a new mansion with ornamental gardens (Tithe Map).

9 Ladham House remained in the Oakden family until 1870, during which time the building was substantially enlarged and a new garden was laid out (1st edn OS map). Sales particulars describe a 12ha estate with stables, gardens, grounds, orchards, plantations, cottage and miniature park . The property was occupied briefly by Sir Henry Mather Jackson, a relative of the Oakdens, until it was bought in 1874 by Sir George Jessel, Solicitor-General in Gladstone s government. By 1895, Sir George and Lady Amelia Jessel had enlarged the mansion in an Italianate style and restyled the gardens, possibly to the designs of the landscape architect William Goldring (1854-1919) (2nd edn OS map; The Times, Country Life).

10 The property remained in the Jessel family until 2002, during which time the gardens continued to evolve and, from 1931, to be opened annually under the National Gardens Scheme (Country Life). It was bought by the present owners in 2002 and remains in single private ownership. The gardens continue to be open to the public under the National Gardens Scheme. SITE DESCRIPTION LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING Ladham House stands on a small plateau in the High Weald some 70m above sea level.