|
The thumbnails below are
linked to larger pictures
Knole House has always produced mixed reactions amongst its
visitors. King Henry VIII liked it so much that he forced Thomas Cranmer the
Archbishop of Canterbury to hand it over to him in 1538. In the following
century, the diarist John Evelyn was so depressed by the greyness of the old
fashioned house that he hurried out into the sunshine. I am afraid that my
personal impressions fell into the latter camp and I longed to return to the
sunshine outside.
 The origins of this
enormous Kentish ragstone house are obscure, but it is believed that an estate
has been in existence here since the 12th century. The Knole house seen today
was rebuilt and furnished in three bursts of activity each
 separated by about one
hundred years. At the beginning of the 17th century Thomas Sackville, 1st earl
of Dorset, transformed the late medieval archbishop's palace into a Renaissance
mansion. Later that same century, his great-great grandson the 6th Earl,
acquired Knole's unique collection of Stuart furniture and textiles through his
office as Lord Chamberlain. Finally towards the end of the 18th century the 6th
earls great-grandson the 3rd Duke, added Old Masters bought on the Grand Tour
to Italy, together with portraits commissioned from contemporary English
artists such as Reynolds and Gainsborough. Visitors to the house today will see
little changed from this period.
 Knole Park is one of the few Tudor deer parks in England to have
survived the past 500 years and the only one in Kent. The park has changed
little since Thomas Sackville's death in 1608 except mainly from the
devastation wreaked in October 1987 by the Great Storm, when 70% of the trees
in the park were lost.
The 1000 acres of Knole is home to an 800 strong herd
of Fallow and Japanese Sika deer who do a good job of keeping the grass short
even on the golf course. There is also a 24 acre walled garden consisting of
both formal and informal (wilderness areas), which provides views of the seldom
seen rear aspects of the house.
Knole is located in Sevenoaks in Kent
off the A225.
|
