Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 26/02/2015

TQ 7258
12/64

AYLESFORD CP,
CULPEPER ROAD,
Preston Hall (No. 1)

(Formerly listed as Preston Hall (otherwise known as Preston Hall Hospital), LONDON ROAD (north side))

Previously listed as Preston Hall Hospital)

GV II

Country house in landscaped park, in use as hospital from 1945 to 2012, converted into flats in 2015. 1850 by John Thomas for Edward Betts, in a neo-Elizabethan style. Coursed dressed stone with ashlar dressings, strings and main cornice. Parapets and Dutch-type gables with gable parapets with urns to plain and fish-scale slate roof with irregular stacks and octagonal chimneys on square pedestals. South front: Central block. Symmetrical about central 4-storey balustraded tower and with gabled end projections. 2 storeys with attics. 5 bays with transom and mullion windows in all bays, except in the outer bays on the ground and 1st floors which have octagonal projecting bays topped by bracketed cornices. Lunette-topped semi-dormers with shell decoration in lunettes in intermediate bays. Bracketed cornice to tower with range of square windows below. Large cross-window with bracketed cornice supported on stud-banded Corinthian pilasters below, on 2nd floor. Tower octagonal at this stage and transition effected by corner urn-like elements above main cornice of buildings. Large 1st floor aedicule with bracketed cornice on doubled stud-banded Corinthian pilasters on 1st floor. Central ground floor porte-cochere on double banded columns and pedestals, with bracketed cornice moulding, the ends flanked by scutcheons and griffins. Central arched door surround behind porte-cochere with double panelled doors and arched overlight. Wing to left: Symmetrical, of 3 bays, with further wing to left. 2 1/2 storeys, with semi- dormers. Gabled projection with canted octagonal oriel on 1st floor. 6 and 4-light transom and mullion windows. Wing of stable block projecting at right angles to left. Central arched entrance to stable court behind topped by diagonally-placed octagonal tower with broached cupola and flanking gables. 1½ storeys; 6 windows with Dutch-type gabled projection to left and second Dutch-type gable to right. Semi-dormers with small Dutch-type gables over remaining bays. Tall, triple octagonal stacks behind main ridge. 1, 2 and 3-light transom and mullion windows. Stable courtyard behind now much altered. North front: 2 1/2 storeys. Tall 2-storey central projecting bay with octagonally-hipped roof appearing over balustrade with much heraldic and floral decoration at cornice level, and flanked by intermediate bays and smaller 2-storey bays beyond. Low wings to right masking stable court. Towers to left and right, that to left octagonal with ogee dome, that to right square with balustrade. Interior: Vestibule. Articulated by applied three-quarter columns supporting full entablature. Niches in centre of side walls, flanked by windows; doors also flanked by windows, all with blocked arched surrounds and lozenge decoration. Ribbed ceiling above, each rib resting on volute bracket with shield. Hall: Galleried with pierced balustrade. Clerestoried vault. 2-light open-well stair rising to left of stair. Dining room: Wooden panelled ceiling with arched trusses on carved corbels of figureheads. Panels between stencilled; room now divided horizontally to provide 2 rooms. Library: Wooden carved panelling with book shelves with moulded fronts. Wooden and marble fireplace supporting mirror in wooden surround, all highly decorated. 4 stained glass upper window panes in bow. Side room: Moulded wooden panelling, fire surround, large book cabinet and cornice. Neo-Elizabethan moulded plaster ceiling. 1st floor stair: Single flight stair from top of main stairs. Barrel-vaulted with wooden-arched architrave, wooden panelling and ribs with plaster infilling. This house replaced an earlier one that was built and continuously remodelled; its form known in 1720 from an engraving by Kip and c.1750 from various paintings and engravings including one by Godfrey. See Five Medway Villages, W Bergess and S Sage, Rainham, 1983, 12-13. Thomas also built Somerleyton Hall, Suffolk, (1840) for Morton Peto, Betts business partner.

Listing NGR: TQ7294757987

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26324430

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)