Bayham Abbey and garden terraces

Bayham Abbey and its garden terraces is a large house built between 1870 and 1872 for the Marquess Camden, designed by the architect David Brandon. It was later subdivided into residential units in 1976. The building is constructed of hammer-dressed ragstone with green slate roofs, and is designed in a Jacobean style.

The north-facing entrance front features a three-storey main block with a plinth, string course, and a modillion eaves cornice. A balustraded roof is topped with three irregularly sized, slightly projecting shaped gables to the left and a pair to the centre, with stacks arranged along the left, right, and front of the building. There are ten variously sized stone mullioned and transomed windows on each floor, along with a 15-light stair window to the centre right and a central porte-cochère with coupled columns, keyed and banded arches, and a pierced parapet. A lower, three-storey service wing is to the left, also with a shaped gable and a bell tower, along with projecting two-storey and single-storey service buildings that enclose a courtyard to the far left.

The garden elevation is symmetrical and presents a smaller frontage. It has similar detailing to the entrance front, with two shaped gabled wings projecting to the left and right. The wing to the right has a canted bay, while a central two-storey bow window is present. A two-storey wing to the right features a shaped gabled projecting centrepiece, and a two-bay arcaded porch links to the main block. A single-storey, pilastered garden room is attached to the left, and an octagonal stair vice fills in the re-entrant angle of the return elevation to the entrance front and features a shaped gable and a two-storey canted bay.

The house is set on a terraced platform projecting from the western elevation, connected by a stone wall with a wrought iron gate. The rectangular terrace has a bowed section to the south of the house and a pierced parapetted wall with occasional low piers, containing an opening to the western gardens. Access to the lowest levels is provided on the west side via a single flight of steps and to the south via three flights of steps, all with low sidewalls and piers bearing urns. The terraces overlook a landscaped park, incorporating the ruins of Bayham Abbey, Brandon’s church, and other features; Humphry Repton was consulted on the park’s design around 1800.

The interior retains significant features, including a Doric screened entrance hall leading to a grand staircase, a ballroom with a modillion cornice to the panelled ceiling, an enriched marble fireplace, and bow window shutters operated by a patent mechanical system within the window piers. A dining room is richly panelled in carved Italian walnut, incorporating a swagged, segmentally headed fireplace (the chimney pieces supplied by Earp, Kennington Road, London), and a panelled ceiling.