Brasted Place And Saxon Cross

Circa 1784, Brasted Place is a five-bay Palladian villa designed by Robert Adam for John Turton, physician to George III, with later additions. The house is of two storeys and has a basement. A slightly projecting central section features a pediment with dentilled cornice and a round window. The construction is of ashlar sandstone, with a patterned frieze to the main entablature, a double guilloche band on the first floor, and a freestone basement plinth. A flight of nine steps leads to a tetrastyle porch, now glazed. Windows are modern wood mullioned casements. A three-bay left return includes a 19th-century single-storey canted extension and a balustraded terrace. The rear elevation showcases coupled corner Ionic pilasters and a full-height Ionic tetrastyle portico, opening onto a terrace.

Inside, some original plaster reliefs remain in the hall and drawing room, along with some ceiling and window enrichment. Two original panels of Chinese wallpaper depicting scenes of everyday life, a gift from George III received from the Emperor of China, are still in situ (some have been removed to Kent Museum). The roof was raised to a mansard form in 1871, with round dormer windows added. Western additions, likely by Alfred Waterhouse, were also made around 1871 in a French Renaissance style. These consist of a three-window link of two storeys, attic and basement (at differing levels from the main house), connecting to a taller, one-window pavilion. Both have slated mansard roofs; the link features round dormers, while the pavilion has pedimented dormers. The pavilion has 3-light sash and casement windows.

The western extremity of the 1871 wing is currently concealed by a plain, projecting modern extension, but on the right return, a tower of coursed rubble masonry stands with ashlar dressings, three storeys high, including an arched basement entrance. It has a tall roof of reversed ogee shape, with fishscale slates, an octagonal drum, an open wood arcade, a slated spirelet with vane, and a date stone with the initials 'WT' at second-floor level. Two tall chimneys are linked by a stone arch on the roof behind the main building. A new chapel building extends behind the main house. A Saxon cross, originally set upon a rustic bridge to the south-east, is mounted in the wall.