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Knole, Kent

In 1458 a grand house was built at Knole near Sevenoaks for the Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor, Thomas Bourchier. This house survives, and can be seen on the far side of the courtyard, as you pass through the present main gateway. Knole remained as a residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury until Henry The Eighth made it clear to Archbishop Cranmer that a generous gift of Knole to the crown was required. Henry seemed to feel that no one was entitled to a nice palace except him. Knole then remained a royal residence through the Tudor period, until it came into the hands of Elizabeth the First. In 1561 she gave Knole first to her favourite, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester. Then in 1566 it is thought she gave the house to her cousin Thomas Sackville, the Sackville family still owning Knole today. There's a portrait of Thomas Sackville in the Great Hall, holding a white wand which identifies him as Elizabeth's Treasurer.

The Great Staircase

The Great Hall was the central room of the old medieval house. Leaving the Great Hall you climb the Great Staircase. This was built by Thomas Sackville and has the exuberant decoration of the Renaissance. Climbing the stairs is like leaving olde England, climbing up through the time of Shakespeare and Marlowe, and entering the new age which was coming to England during the reign of Elizabeth. At the top of the stairs you will be in the State Rooms where the Sackvilles and their guests lived and entertained. In the Gallery is a collection of seventeenth century furniture, mostly from the reign of Charles the Second. The furniture is from Hampton Court and Whitehall Palace, and seems to have spent its life sitting quietly in corners as history wafted on around it. The furniture's state of preservation indicates it was little used. The collection includes two thrones from the time of James the First. These quiet pieces of furniture, ignored in the background of history, now bring back little flashes of the past. As in the novels of Proust it is not the familiar memories, shaped and dulled by the habit of remembrance, that truly bring back the past. It is the forgotten little details suddenly remembered, a little used chair perhaps, that take us back in time most powerfully. The carving on the arms it still crisp and clear,and the fabric has only faded through the effect of time. Late in the seventeenth century the Sackville family largely abandoned the grand state rooms upstairs, and lived in apartments on the ground floor. The state rooms remained as they were, under dust covers for long periods. This disuse contributed to their survival.

In the Venetian Ambassador's Room off the Gallery you will find another everyday item that sat in the background of momentous historic events. The bed in this room is from Whitehall Palace - part of which survives into the present day as the Banqueting House. On the 18th of December 1688 James the Second got up out of this huge, ornate four poster bed, and realised that Whitehall palace was surrounded by Dutch troops. Perhaps he left the bed, moved to the window, looked out, and saw these men milling about below. The Dutch soldiers had been summoned by Parliament to help oust the suspiciously Catholic James. James slipped away, travelling in the royal barge down the Thames, and then onto France. This was the Glorious Revolution, which placed the British monarchy into the hands of the safely Protestant German royal family of Hanover, where it has remained ever since.

Into the twentieth century Knole was the childhood home of the writer Vita Sackville West. Vita loved Knole and described the house in Knole and the Sackvilles as "some very old woman who has always been beautiful, who has had many lovers, and has seen many generations come and go." In the 1920s Vita was the lover of Virginia Woolf, the affair commemorated by the novel Orlando, which was inspired by Vita, and Knole. The novel follows Orlando through four generations, his/ her gender changing through the decades, culminating with Orlando taking possession of the grand ancestral home (Knole). In reality Vita was denied ownership of Knole because it passed through the male line. So in 1930 Vita bought Sissinghurst Castle, where with the help of her husband Harold Nicholson she created a world famous garden which can still be visited today.

A facsimile copy of the manuscript of Virginia Woolf's Orlando can be seen in the Gallery.

 

Knole is set in a deer park where deer still run free, as they did in Tudor times. Dogs are welcome on leads. There is a gift shop and restaurant. There is educational provision, mostly focused on Tudor studies for Primary schools.

Opening Times: The park is open daily to pedestrians. The house is open from the 15th of March until the 2nd November, 12 midday to 4pm Wednesday to Sunday. Cars are admitted only when the house is open.

Directions: The park entrance to Knole is in Sevenoaks town centre off the A 225. Clich here for an interactive road and satellite map centred on knole.

Access: wheelchair access to the house is difficult. There is a ramp to the entrance, but there are steps on the ground floor, and stairs to the upper floor. A photo album tour is available. Adapted toilet facilities are provided. The grounds are partly accessible in the area near the house. Out in the deer parks there are rough paths and steep slopes.

Contact:

phone: 01732 450608

web site http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-knole.htm