Overview
Somerhill House ( ) is a Jacobean mansion situated near Tonbridge, Kent, United Kingdom. The Grade I listed structure was built for The 4th Earl of Clanricarde in 1611–1613. The estate was sequestrated by Parliament in 1645, and restored to its rightful owner in 1660. The building had become derelict by the mid-eighteenth century but was later restored. Somerhill was painted by Turner in 1811. It was bought by a member of the Goldsmid family in 1849 and greatly extended between 1879 and 1897, making it the second largest house in Kent, after Knole House, Sevenoaks. Somerhill housed a Prisoner of War camp, Prisoner of War Camp No. 40, during the Second World War, following which it became the home of the d'Avigdor-Goldsmids and was visited by many celebrities of the time.
Somerhill was sold by the d'Avigdor-Goldsmids in 1980, and again went into decline, being damaged by vandalism and storms. In 1993, The Schools at Somerhill moved in, as of the building is used as a school.
Location
Somerhill House lies south of Tonbridge at , in the civil parish of Tudeley-cum-Capel, which falls under Tunbridge Wells Borough Council.
Description
Somerhill is built of sandstone. The stone also contains iron, which gives it a red colour. This stone is known as Calverley Stone. The house shows the transition from medieval architecture, in which the hall was the main living and entertaining room, to the more modern plan, where the hall became a reception room. Somerhill is one of the earliest examples of this. When built, this was an innovative design.
17th century
The land that Somerhill was built on originally formed part of the estate of South Frith, one of two deer parks in the Lowey of Tonbridge. At one time the estate covered . Built on the site of an earlier mansion, and designed by John Thorpe, the house was built between 1611 and 1613, dates which are to be found on the surviving leaden rainwater heads. Somerhill was built for The 4th Earl of Clanricarde, an Anglo-Irish nobleman. The design was based on that of the Villa Valmarana, Lisiera, Italy, which was designed by Palladio. Lord Clanricarde died in 1636, and Somerhill passed to his son Ulick, 5th Earl of Clanricarde (1604-1657), who was created The 1st Marquess of Clanricarde (the first of what eventually would be three creations of this title, as it was to turn out) in 1646.
Following the Battle of Naseby in 1645, Somerhill was sequestrated by Parliament, which gave it to The 3rd Earl of Essex, the half-brother of Ulick, Lord Clanricarde. On his death in September 1646, Parliament gave Somerhill to John Bradshaw. John Evelyn, who visited Somerhill on 29 May 1652, described Somerhill as "situated on an eminent hill, with a park, but has nothing else extraordinary". Following the Restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660, Somerhill was given to Margaret, Viscountess Muskerry, the daughter of The 1st Marquess of Clanricarde. Lady Muskerry had extravagant tastes, and gradually sold off much of the lands of South Frith to various people. She died in 1698, and Somerhill passed to her son, John Villiers, who styled himself the Earl of Buckingham. Villers sold the Manor of South Frith to one Dekins.
Some of grounds was sold separately to Abraham Hill of Sutton at Hone, Kent. Somerhill itself had been let to a warrener.
18th century
Dekins sold Somerhill to one Cave, who sold it in 1712 to John Woodgate of Penshurst. Woodgate lived in the house, and on his death it passed to his son Henry, who lived at Somerhill until 1769, and then within the town of Tonbridge until his death in 1787. On 5 August 1752, the house was visited by Horace Walpole, who described its setting as commanding "a vast landscape, beautifully wooded and has quantities of large old trees to shelter itself". By 1766, Somerhill was in a "ruinous" state. It was to remain derelict throughout the century. In 1787, Somerhill passed to William Woodgate, who was Henry Woodgate's nephew and had been living at Somerhill. In 1792, Woodgate was one of three partners who set up The Tonbridge Bank.
19th century
by J.M.W. Turner, 1811 In the spring of 1810, J. M. W. Turner made a drawing of Somerhill, and then in 1811 he painted it for the Woodgates, choosing a view across the lake in the grounds, with the house in the distance. The painting Somer Hill, Tonbridge, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy's Exhibition of 1811, is now in the National Galleries of Scotland, and the sketchbook containing his earlier drawing is at the Tate. where it can still be seen. In 1849, Somerhill was bought by Sir Isaac Goldsmid, who passed it on to his son Frederick in 1859. The lake at Somerhill, which Turner had painted in 1811, was used to supply ice for the house, as a watering place for the estate's cattle, and for recreational boating. The lake was fed by the Calverley Stream, which flowed through the grounds of Somerhill.
In 1860, the stream became polluted by sewage discharged upstream from a sewage works owned by the Tunbridge Wells Improvement Commissioners, rendering the water in the lake unfit for use. Frederick Goldsmid tried to get the Commissioners to stop fouling the stream, but they refused to act and the situation worsened. Finally, in 1865, Goldsmid sued the Commissioners. They denied responsibility, claiming that the pollution was not caused by their sewage works but by a farm downstream. The court rejected their claim and ruled in Goldsmid's favor. In 1866, Somerhill passed to Frederick's son Sir Julian Goldsmid (later known as d'Avigdor-Goldsmid). Sir Julian returned the house to something nearer its original condition. In 1879, Somerhill was extended as more room was needed to accommodate Goldsmid's large family – he had eight daughters.
The stable courtyard was rebuilt at this time, with the date 1879 being cast in the rainwater heads. The building work took until 1897 to complete. The expansion made Somerhill the second largest house in Kent, after Knole House, Sevenoaks. Somerhill House itself covers an area of 2½ acres (1 ha). A ghost in the form of a lady in white is said to haunt the Julian staircase, located in the Victorian part of the house. D'Avigdor-Goldsmid allowed people to drive their carriages through the grounds of Somerhill, although the house was not open to the public. Sir Julian died in 1896, and Somerhill passed to Sir Osmond d'Avigdor-Goldsmid.
20th century
In 1912, there was an army camp held in the grounds of Somerhill. The soldiers were housed in bell tents. On Sir Osmond's death in 1940, it then passed to his eldest son Sir Henry. During the Second World War, Somerhill was the site of a Prisoner of War camp, known as POW Camp No. 40. The Army were in possession of Somerhill from 1940 to 1949. Squatters occupied some of the 40-plus huts in 1948, they were locked in by the Colonel in charge of the camp at the time. On 19 September 1963, the d'Avigdor-Goldsmid's daughter Sarah was drowned in an accident, Artist Marc Chagall was commissioned to design a set of stained glass windows in All Saints' Church, Tudeley, in her memory. It was bought by Mr and Mrs Watts who opened it for weddings parties etc. Somerhill was advertised for sale in May 1984 at a price in excess of £1,500,000.
In 1998, the attic rooms were converted to provide classrooms and art room. A former granary has also been converted to classrooms, whilst some stables have been converted to workshops. Also in that year, a bridge over the lake in the grounds of Somerhill was added to the Buildings at Risk Register by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, in whose area Somerhill falls. In 2000, the central span between the old stable courtyard and the stable courtyard was reinstated at a cost of £720,000 to provide accommodation for Somerhill Pre-Prep School and administrative offices. Also in that year, planning permission was granted for the building of a sports hall on the top sports terrace.
21st century
The reinstated central span opened in January 2001. The new sports hall was completed in 2002 at a cost of £1,400,000. An artificial turf pitch was added in 2003. In 2004, the bridge over the lake was repaired at a cost of £170,000, aided by a grant of £32,000 from Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. As a working school, Somerhill House is not normally open to the public. It has been open as part of Heritage Open Days. Somerhill House was open in 2006, and also in 2010. The grounds of Somerhill contain of land.
Listed buildings
The table below shows the status of the various listed buildings in the grounds of Somerhill House.
Sources
* (p 120 , p 121 ) * (p 233 , p 234 ) * (p 154 ) * (p 332 , p 333 , p 334 ) * * (p 235 , p 236 ) * (p 46 , p 47 , p 53 , p 54 , p 360 ) * (p 41 , p 42 ) * * (p 173 , p 174 )
External links
*Painting of Somerhill by Turner *Heritage Open Days website