Description

TR 34 SW ST MARGARET'S AT CLIFFE WESTCLIFFE

5/79 Wallets Court 27.8.52 GV II*

House. Mediaeval building largely remodelled 1627 and early C19. Red brick, painted on main elevation, with slate roof. Single rectangular range, but probably a courtyard house in origin. Two storeys on plinth with discontinuous plat band. Seven thin pilasters with bases, the four to right slightly larger and supported by the plat band. Hipped roof with stacks to end left, centre and right. Five glazing bar sashes on first floor and 4 on ground floor, all with segmental heads. Door of 6 panels, the top 2 glazed, to left in moulded flat roofed porch dated 1627 on piers, with tulip decoration in right spandrel and G in left T D spandrel. The centre right bay is recessed and rendered, and marks either the site of the original porch, or else a through passage to courtyard. A corresponding archway is on the rear wall, blocked and partly rebuilt; A moulded door on first floor of rear elevation now leads nowhere, indicating a lost wing here. Left return: rubble base with irregularly bonded red brick over, and 2 storey canted bay window with blocked brick mullioned and transomed windows of 3 tiers on first floor, 2 on ground floor. Interior: chalk lined cellars and portions of the framed interior structure appear mediaeval in date (ie certainly predating the 1627 rebuilding). An open hall was in existence C18, although possibly in now demolished portion of building. Fine moulded ceiling joists with stylised flower ornamentation. Moulded door surrounds, one at least dated 1627. Odd early C18 doors and portions of panelling survive. Four centred arched fireplace with hollow chamfer and relief shields. Open well stair, the treads of single blocks of oak, with carved newels with finials, the turned balusters largely C20 replacements. Main room with carved pilasters, decorated with strapwork, one with shields and various initials of the Gibbon family, the other with relief of woman (said to be Queen Eleanor) carrying a shield with rope finial. Upper passageway with remains of wall paintings. Some early C19 features survive (doors, panelled recesses, windows). The building, originally Westcliffe Manor, belonged to Queen Eleanor (known locally as Queen Eleanor's Palace) 1284- 1291. Residence of Gibbon family from 1573 to 1660. Thomas and Dorothy Gibbon remodelled house 1627. The historian Edward Gibbon was descended from this family. William Pitt was occupant of house 1804-6 (also Lord Warden of Cinque Ports, based at nearby WALMER Castle). Most internal features of the house have only been recovered since 1976. (See BOE Kent II 1983, 491; Hasted IX, 419 ff; see also history of house displayed inside the house).

Listing NGR: TR3502844826

External Links

• Wikidata Q17557716

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Recommended Books

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings