Godmersham Park, Courtyards, Walled Gardens And Gateways

Godmersham Park is a house built in 1732 for Thomas Brodnax-May-Knight, with wings added around 1780. The south front was remodelled in 1852 and again around 1935 by Walter Sarel. The building is constructed of red brick with ashlar dressings and a slate roof.

The north front, which was painted in the 19th century with bricks turned round to expose the unpainted surface around 1935, comprises two storeys and an attic on an ashlar plinth with a discontinuous plat band, modillion eaves cornice, and parapet bearing urns. The roof is hipped with two projecting hipped wings, five pedimented dormers, and four chimneys regularly ranged. The fenestration follows a regular 2-3-2 rhythm with all windows being 20th-century glazing bar sashes.

The centrepiece of the north front is a recessed hall of three windows with square sashes to the first floor and keyed oeil-de-boeuf mezzanine windows. The ground floor has two sash windows with cornice hoods on consoles flanking central double doors of three fielded panels each, with a semi-circular fanlight and moulded arched surrounds. Attached Ionic columns support a pediment above. Two projecting wings beyond contain two windows each, those on the ground floor with pediments. Flanking the main block are corridor wings stepped down and recessed with one window to each floor, the ground floor window having a Gibbs surround. Beyond these are low wings of two storeys on a plinth with a plat band and hipped roof containing five windows with gauged heads to each floor.

The south front was originally plainer than the north front but now features a remodelled design from around 1935. It has two storeys and a garret with ashlar plinth, plat band, cornice and balustraded parapet with urns and four chimneys. The main block has a recessed centre with projecting wings containing seven windows to each floor. The central recessed area contains the Saloon with French windows flanking a blocked doorway with broken pediment enclosing a cartouche supported on Ionic pilasters. Entrance is now by French doors in the left-hand corridor wing. The left wing has been converted to an orangery with three full-height glazing-bar arched and keyed windows flanked by Doric pilasters. The right wing has a similar plinth, plat band, cornice and parapet with urns, and contains five glazing-bar sash windows to each floor.

Two original interiors of around 1732 survive. The entrance hall is of one storey only, with mezzanine oeil-de-boeuf windows echoed by medallions in the deep frieze. A fireplace with pedimented plaster relief to the right faces a pedimented niche with shell-head alcove to the left. The ceiling features rectangular compartmented sections with beams decorated with stucco fruit and flowers. The drawing room contains plasterwork of musical instruments, fruit and flowers, and framed mirrors, all in the style of William Kent. All other interiors were created by Walter Sarel around 1935, incorporating many genuine 18th-century features brought from various locations including Sevenoaks, London, and Bath. The orangery was decorated by Felix Harbord.

Subsidiary features include a post and iron chain attached to obelisks before the main north door. A brick wall runs left from the north front, seven feet high and stepped down in three stages, terminating in a gateway with vermiculated and rusticated piers supporting plinths bearing Coade stone urns signed "Coade, London 1793". Similar urns flank the entrance to the stable courtyard beyond, and a large keyed arched gateway with pediment leads to the kitchen courtyard. The stable ranges, now partly offices, date from the 18th century with 20th-century additions, constructed of one-storey red brick with a plain tile roof and irregular fenestration.

To the west are the walled gardens, three in total, with walls in English and Flemish chequered bonds dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, averaging ten feet high with round-arched doors. The gardens extend approximately 150 yards north to south and 30 yards east to west, arranged in three courtyards. The most southerly is a yew tree garden laid out by Norah Lindsay. The south front and west court are fronted with raised stone flag pavement. The west court features a lily pond with a wall-water spout, balustraded courtyard, flights of steps, a full-size statue of a stag, and a large urn in a niche on the side of the house.

The house was owned from 1797 to 1852 by Edward Austen-Knight, brother of Jane Austen, who was a frequent and regular visitor. Austen is supposed to have written some of her works here and to have used Godmersham and its inhabitants as prototypes for Mansfield Park.