Ightham Mote

Ightham Mote

A house of at least circa 1340-1360 origin, substantially enlarged and modified over subsequent centuries. The building is moated and arranged around a central courtyard with a smaller yard to the east, comprising four ranges around the main courtyard. The west front presents two ranges flanking a central tower.

The exterior walls are constructed of coursed rubble stone, with the upper portions galletted and lower sections ungalletted, topped with plain tiled roofs and end stacks. The central tower is built of random rubble stone and is crowned with an early 16th-century crenellated brick parapet. Two storeys rise on either side with a three-storey tower at centre. Three windows are placed either side of the centre, nearly symmetrical except for the first floor to the left, which has one larger three-light window with a dripmould centrally positioned. Two-light lattice casement windows with round heads in square frames are common throughout. Three-light lattice casements with dripmoulds and cusped heads light the first and second floors of the tower. The main entrance is an arch within a larger, shallower arched surround, with large double doors and a smaller door within the right-hand leaf.

The north front features a deep random rubble basement. A random rubble gable end of the west front has an 18th-century Palladian window inserted into a 16th-century window surround. Two timber-framed ranges rise to the left: the right-hand range is taller with plain tiled roof and coved eaves at the right end, featuring a large off-ridge stack and three large regularly-placed casements around the centre with a smaller casement to the left. The lower framed range to the left has plain tiled roof, three brick stacks off-ridge to the rear, and an irregular three-window front with stone casements below and wooden casements above.

The east front shows random rubble on the ground floor with a mixture of random rubble and timber-framing above. A timber-framed gable at the extreme right end carries a large wooden casement on the first floor. A stone gable end to its left, taller, contains windows on the first floor and in the attic. A central timber-framed block, close-studded, rises three storeys with plain tiled roof at two different pitches, irregularly fenestrated with three windows on the second floor and two on the first. An arched entrance with a bridge over the moat opens to the ground floor to the left, with a gable end and large brick stack, stone mullioned windows on all three floors.

The south front is of random stone below a random stone gable, with a timber-framed return gable at the right end. The central part projects over the ground floor, as does the right-hand gable, recently covered with applied timbering. Plain tiled roof carries two brick stacks left and right of centre. Two storeys display seven windows on each floor, all casements, mostly with arched heads in square surrounds.

Within the courtyard, the west side contains the central tower with the main entrance below and two three-light windows with cusped heads and dripmoulds on the first and second storeys above. The north side is timber-framed with a wooden loggia to the right on the ground floor and three chapel windows above, a staircase projection to the left carrying a small wooden bell-turret on the gable. The east side comprises a hall range of random rubble and tall storey to the right, timber-framed with two return gables and two storeys to the left. The hall entrance is at the extreme right with a moulded arch of Bethersden marble. A five-light lattice casement window with possibly original glass and five stained-glass coats-of-arms stands to the left of the entrance, with cusp-headed lights in a square-headed surround with dripmould. Both gables display 16th-century decorated barge-boards. A large oriel window on a coved footing is flanked by smaller casements; one pane in this oriel bears the inscription 'John Rauner, 1680', the glazier's name and date of window insertion. A central gabled dog-kennel, half-timbered, was added in 1891. Windows on the north and east sides have Gothick-headed glazing bars added circa 1800.

Interior

The main hall was built circa 1340-1360. There appears never to have been a screens passage, a lancet of contemporary date occupying where the answering doorway to the main entrance should have been. Two arched doorways in the south end wall, the right one larger, likely represent the original buttery and pantry entrances. The roof comprises trussed rafters with collar purlin and crown-post resting in a stone sphere arch supported by a pair of carved corbels, with wooden arches at each end similarly supported.

A crypt, dating circa 1340-1360, contains two bays with a pair of quadripartite rib vaults. The original chapel, also circa 1340-1360, was converted into two rooms between 1521-1527. It retains an arched doorway with moulded surround and a depressed ogee-arched squint into the Oriel Room, on the site of the original solar. The roof comprises trussed rafters with two crown posts and one king post on tie beams.

The chapel proper dates from 1521-1527 and features a wooden barrel vault with three tie-beams decorated with painted royal badges and chevrons. A contemporary screen, pairs of doors, pulpit and sounding board survive. Stained glass, possibly of Cologne origin and dating circa 1525, is retained in one window. A west door from circa 1340-1360 is boarded with long strap hinges.

A staircase circa 1620 consists of two-flight rectangular square newel with Italian balusters and a carved Saracen's head on the lower newel post. Panelling and fireplace surround in the main hall date from 1872 by R Norman Shaw.

The Drawing Room contains a two-tier south fireplace circa 1620 with a carved frieze of the same date. Hand-painted Chinese wallpaper of the 18th century was restored in 1891-1892; a north-west neo-Jacobean scheme also dates to 1891-1892. A Jacobean revival two-tier fireplace in the former chapel dates from 1866. The chapel staircase dates to 1891-1892.