Somerhill House

En un regard

Le château en bref

Somerhill is a large Jacobean mansion built on high ground east of Tonbridge, within the parish of Capel, in Kent. Dated to 1611–1613 by its lead rainwater heads and a datestone, it was built for Richard Burke, 4th Earl of Clanricarde, and his wife Frances, widow of the Earl of Essex, possibly to designs by John Thorpe. The house follows an H-plan, halfway between medieval tradition and more modern arrangements, with symmetrical gabled façades, mullioned and transomed windows and crenellated bay windows. It has been altered several times: library decoration by Jeffry Wyatville, work by Anthony Salvin between 1828 and 1833, a north wing and clock-tower stables in the Goldsmid era, then works by Herbert Baker in the 1930s. Owned by the Goldsmid family from 1849 to 1981, the estate then went through a decline marked by vandalism before a restoration begun in 1988 with the help of English Heritage. Since the 1990s the house has been home to the Schools at Somerhill and is not open for regular visits. It sits within a park of about 150 hectares of meadows, woodland and a lake, listed on the register of historic parks.