Godinton House
{{Short description|Grade I listed country house in Great Chart with Singleton, Kent, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2023}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=October 2018}}
File:Godinton House -1985-.JPG
File:Godinton House – Garden.jpg
Godinton House (also known as Godinton House and Gardens or Godinton Park) is a stately home in the parish of Great Chart, owned by a non-profit-making trust. It is {{convert|2|mi}} north-west of the centre of the town of Ashford, Kent, UK.
Description
Godinton House is an ancient brick house with a Jacobean-style exterior. The roof has a distinctive system of Dutch gables (also called semi-classical gables). The Jacobean house was built around a medieval great hall. Of particular note is the elaborate carvings in chestnut wood on the main staircase.
The gardens include one of the longest Yew hedges in England, as well as having spectacular displays of delphiniums, irises, wild flowers and roses.
The house also has a Steinway piano.
It hosts one of the best private collections of porcelain in the South of England.
File:Robert Braithwaite Martineau - The Last Day in the Old Home - 1862.jpg, a composite of rooms at Godinton]]
History
Godinton House was the seat of the Toke family for about 455 years from 1440 to 1895.{{cite book| title=Godinton Park |date=1985| contribution=Introduction|author-link=Christopher Hussey (historian) |first=Christopher |last=Hussey |publisher=English Life |location=Derby |isbn=0-85101-161-6}}
Around the turn of the century (19th/20th) then owner Mr. Ashley Dodd hired the architect Sir Reginald Blomfield to update the house and redesign the gardens. Blomfield planted the famous yew hedge, shaped to repeat the gable form seen on the house.{{fact|date=January 2024}}
In 1991 Major Alan Wyndham-Green, the last owner of Godinton, established the Godinton House Preservation Trust. Since Major Wyndham-Green's passing in 1996 the Trust has continued to preserve, restore, and enhance the house and parklands.{{fact|date=January 2024}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://godintonhouse.co.uk/ Official website: Godinton House and Gardens]
- [https://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/CharityWithPartB.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1002278&SubsidiaryNumber=0 Godinton House Preservation Trust (www.charity-commission.gov.uk - Charity No. 1002278)]
- [http://www.grenfell-banks.com/godinton.htm "Godinton House: The Gardens" Photographic website by Hedley Grenfell-Banks.]
- [https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015018602063 The Account Book of a Kentish Estate 1616-1704, Edited by Eleanor Constance Lodge (1927)]
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=29lAAQAAMAAJ&dq=A%20Saunter%20Through%20Kent%20with%20Pen%20and%20Pencil%2C%20Vol.%202&pg=PP1 A Saunter Through Kent with Pen and Pencil, Vol. 2, by Sir Charles Igglesden (1900) (Google Books)]
Further reading
- "Godinton, Kent, the seat of Mr. G. Ashley Dodd" Country Life Magazine, London, 18 July 1903, pp. 90–98.
- "Godinton, Kent, the seat of Mr. George Ashley Dodd" Country Life Magazine, London, 11 May 1907, pp. 666–673.
- "GODINTON PARK, KENT - I, The Home of Mr. Alan Wyndham-Green" By Christopher Hussey, Country Life Magazine, London, 6 December 1962, pp. 1396–1400.
- "GODINTON PARK, KENT - II, The Home of Mr. Alan Wyndham-Green" By Christopher Hussey, Country Life Magazine, London, 13 December 1962, pp. 1546–1549.
- "GODINTON PARK, KENT - III, The Home of Mr. Alan Wyndham-Green" By Christopher Hussey, Country Life Magazine, London, 20 December 1962, pp. 1600–1603.
- "Painted Catalogue" (letter), Country Life Magazine, London, 27 December 1962, page 1662. This letter concerns the famous painting, "The Last Day in the Old Home" (1862) by Robert Braithwaite Martineau. The painting is on display at the Tate Britain. The setting in this painting is a composite of rooms at Godinton (including Toke family crests).
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Category:Country houses in Kent
Category:Grade I listed houses in Kent