Scotney Castle

Scotney 'New' Castle (mansion)

Scotney Castle is a castle with a "newer" mansion with a Renaissance garden southwest of Lamberhurst in the Bewl Valley in the English county of Kent . It belongs to the National Trust .

The gardens, a highly acclaimed example of the Picturesque style, are open to the public. Particularly worth seeing are the ruins of the medieval manor house with moat , Scotney Old Castle , which is located on an island in a small lake. The lake is surrounded by sloping, wooded gardens where you can find beautiful collections of rhododendrons , azaleas and laurel roses for spring, summer wisteria and roses , as well as spectacular fall colors.

At the highest point of the gardens is a house built between 1835 and 1843 to replace Scotney Old Castle. It's called Scotney New Castle or simply Scotney Castle and it was designed by Anthony Salvin . It is an early and unusually low-key example of Tudor revival style in 19th century Britain. After the death of the last resident, Elizabeth Hussey , in 2006, this house was first opened to the public on June 6, 2007.

location

Scotney Castle is located in south east England, in the county of Kent. Nearby villages are Lamberhurst and Kilndown ; the closest town is Royal Tunbridge Wells . The main road A21 (access road to the London M25 ring road from Hastings by the sea) passes the property; the house itself cannot be seen from the street.

history

Aerial view of Scotney 'Old' Castle

Front view of Scotney 'Old' Castle

Scotney 'New' Castle (mansion)

The first written mention of the property in 1137 names a Lambert de Scoteni as the owner . Roger Ashburnham is said to have had the old castle built (around 1378-1380).

Construction of the castle began with a roughly rectangular fortified house with towers on all four corners. The original plans were probably never realized and in 1558 only the southern tower was left. In 1580 the south wing was rebuilt in Elizabethan style and around 1630 the eastern part of the building was redesigned with three floors and in the style of Inigo Jones . The Elizabethan wing remained the estate manager's apartment until 1905, but the eastern part of the building was partially demolished in 1843 after the completion of the new house, leaving a ruin as a folly .

The Catholic recusant Thomas Darell , who owned the castle in the 16th century, hid the Jesuit Father Richard Blount, SJ , in his castle from 1591 to 1598 while he was administering the sacraments to Catholics. Catholicism was illegal in England at the time and on the second attempt by the authorities to arrest the father, he fled over a wall into the moat and escaped.

The Darrell family owned the property for approximately 350 years. In 1778 it was bought by Edward Hussey and his grandson, also Edward , had the "New Castle" built from sandstone from the slopes below, according to plans by Anthony Salvin . The quarry has been transformed into a quarry garden, where today a 100 million year old dinosaur footprint can be seen.

After Christopher Hussey's death in 1970, the property became part of the National Trust. Various apartments in the house and property have been rented by the National Trust. The tenants included u. a. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher , who rented the Belfry Flat for a period in the 1970s and 1980s as a weekend getaway and escape from life in Westminster.

In theater and video

Performances of Shakespearean plays were also recorded at the property , notably A Midsummer Night's Dream , with the actors emerging from behind bushes.

Old Scotney Castle served as the backdrop for the video to the song Some Fantastic Place the group Squeeze .