Wallets Court

House, largely remodelled in 1627 and the early 19th century, originating in the medieval period. Constructed of red brick, painted on the main elevation, with a slate roof. Originally a courtyard house, now a single rectangular range. It stands on a plinth with a discontinuous plat band. Seven thin pilasters with bases are present, the four to the right being slightly larger and supported by the plat band. The roof is hipped with stacks to the left end, the centre, and the right end. The first floor has five glazing bar sashes with segmental heads, and the ground floor has four. A six-panel door, with the top two panels glazed, is located to the left, set within a moulded, flat-roofed porch dated 1627. This porch rests on piers and features tulip decoration in the right spandrel and a 'G' in the left T D spandrel. The central right bay is recessed and rendered, likely marking the location of the original porch or a through passage to a courtyard. A corresponding blocked and partly rebuilt archway exists on the rear wall, and a moulded door on the first floor now leads to nothing, indicating a lost wing. The left return presents a rubble base with irregularly bonded red brick above, featuring a two-story canted bay window with blocked brick mullioned and transomed windows, three tiers on the first floor and two on the ground floor. Interior features include chalk-lined cellars and portions of a framed interior structure that appear medieval, predating the 1627 rebuilding. An open hall existed in the 18th century, though possibly within a now-demolished portion of the building. Notable interior features include fine moulded ceiling joists with stylised flower ornamentation, moulded door surrounds (one dated 1627), early 18th-century doors, and surviving panelling. A four-centred arched fireplace features hollow chamfer and relief shields. There is an open-well stair with single-block oak treads, carved newels with finials (the turned balusters are largely 20th-century replacements). One main room has carved pilasters, decorated with strapwork; one features shields and various initials of the Gibbon family, while the other depicts a woman (said to be Queen Eleanor) carrying a shield with a rope finial. An upper passageway contains remains of wall paintings. Early 19th-century features include doors, panelled recesses, and windows. The building, originally Westcliffe Manor, was associated with Queen Eleanor (known locally as Queen Eleanor's Palace) from 1284 to 1291 and was the residence of the Gibbon family from 1573 to 1660. Thomas and Dorothy Gibbon remodelled the house in 1627; the historian Edward Gibbon was descended from this family. William Pitt occupied the house from 1804 to 1806 (and held the position of Lord Warden of Cinque Ports, based at Walmer Castle). Many internal features of the house were rediscovered after 1976.