Cobham College

Cobham College, founded in 1362 by Sir John de Cobham as a chantry for five priests, was surrendered to the Crown in 1539 and later refounded as almshouses by a subsequent Lord Cobham, completing in 1598. The original building may have been designed by Henry Yvele. It now houses almshouses and forms a two-storey quadrangle with a hall on the south side. The outer and inner faces of the quadrangle are made of coursed stone, while the Hall is faced in flint. The chimneys are made of brick, with two being modern. The roofs are tiled and gabled. The Hall features three windows facing the quadrangle, while the other sides each have five windows. The windows are casements with stone mullions, and the Hall has two outer windows in Perpendicular style. The door openings are arched, with stone doors that have brass plates naming the parish electing each pensioner. A timber porch with a slanting tiled roof provides access to the east end of the Hall from the south and to the undercroft. Inside, the Hall has a hooded stone fireplace from 1598 and a fine 14th-century timber roof. The undercroft features a square pillar supporting the original central hearth. The College is separated from the parish church by an open processional passageway with a ruined arch at each end, and the college buildings were once connected to the chancel. To the south are the remains of a building believed to have been a kitchen. In the center of the south side of the quadrangle is a pump beneath a tablet commemorating its installation by the Countess of Darnley in 1824. A round-headed stone archway in the ruined building to the south has a tablet above it recording the refounding of the college as almshouses in the late 16th century.