Description

TQ 65 NW WROTHAM C.P. FORD LANE
5/24 (east side)
1.8.52
Ford Place and wall
to north
GV
II*

Country house, of which only south wing survives. Dated 1582 and 1605 on stacks,
but armorials C20 in style. Probably built about 1600. Red brick to north and
west, with some stone dressings. The south side of brick and coursed rubble on
ground-floor. Rendered on 1st floor. Stringcourse over ground-floor to north.
Plain tiled roof, with 3 gables to north, decorative with steps, quarter-circles and
lunettes surmounting. Large stepped gable to west. Three chimney-breasts with tall
stacks on south side. 2 storeys; regular 3 window 1st floor to north, mullioned and
transom windows of rubbed brick to resemble stone, under each north side gable.
2 blocked windows of similar type on 1st floor of west end. Irregular fenestration
of ground-floor of north front and on south front. C20 boarded and rubbed door in
moulded surround to right of west facade. Interior: collar-purlin roof with
crown-posts, modified and re-used at east end of block. Linenfold panelling in one
1st floor room, a stone chimney-piece in another, its lintel covered with arabesques
and 2 squirrels below blackbird in cherry. West drawing room; large fireplace with
bressumer. Wall: attached at west end of north side. C16 in origin, but much
patched later. Coursed rubble stone below, red and blue brick above, on probable
site of courtyard screen wall. 6 ft high and 30 yds long. Remains of blocked
gateway visible in centre. House probably built by William Clarke, to whom there is
a brass dated 1611 in Wrotham Church. Forde passed to the Bartholomew and Geary
families of West Peckham in the eighteenth century, at which time it was relegated
to farmhouse status and sold. Restored, after semi-dereliction, in the 1920's, it
is now divided into 2 properties.

Listing NGR: TQ6076359294

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17546971

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)