Boxley Abbey House

Details

TQ 75 NE BOXLEY

5/48 Boxley Abbey House 20.10.52

G.V. II*

Part of Boxley Abbey (Cistercian), incorporating part of the west range and possibly part of Abbot's house; once a large L-plan house,of which the present house is a fragment. Abbey founded in 1146 by William of Ypres, Earl of Kent and dissolved in 1538; some C16 work; house built in early C18. Stone core with red brick front and plain tile roof. 3 storeys. North elevation (entrance front): no plinth, but about 1' at base of ground floor is in coursed galletted. stone, with red brick in Flemish bond above. Platt band above ground-floor and first- floor windows, and very deep dentilled and moulded wood eaves cornice. Roof of 4 small ridges parallel to front elevation. Small projecting C19 and C20 end stacks, that to right towards front and that to left towards rear. Shallow brick buttress at right end. Regular 4-window front of recessed glazing-bar sashes with thick glazing bars. 4th window on the first floor at the left end is a tall round-headed stair window with windows above and below it blocked. C19 panelled door under depressed rubbed brick arch in small C19 brick loggia to left. Print of 1801 shows door in place of right ground-floor window with another 2 windows to the right of it, and a wing at right-angles to the front at the left end, along the west range of the Abbey. Left end elevation (east) left half built in stone to eaves level, rest in red brick in header bond with irregular courses of stretchers. Right end elevation (west): ground floor in galletted stone, possibly C16, with brick in Flemish bond above. Bell under semi-circular hood on third gable from front. Rear elevation (south): ground floor in stone, possibly C16. Deep moulded wood eaves cornice. Large C16 coursed and galletted stone stack on plinth, finished at top in brick crow-steps with rectangular, corniced, brick plinth above and 3 diagonally set brick flues. Rear wing at right end of rear elevation: C19. Roughly coursed stone with brick dressings and plain tile roof. 2 storeys with brick end stack, central dormer and 2 first-floor glazing bar sashes. Interior: very thick internal walls on ground floor with 3 possibly original openings, one with 2-centred ached head, moulded jambs and broach stop. Early C18 staircase from ground to second floor. Some C18 panelling and cornices on first floor. First floor doors with eared architraves and fielded panels, second floor doors with fielded panels. East part of house scheduled as Ancient Monument. P.J. Tester, "Excava- tions at Boxley Abbey", in Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 88, 1974. Beneath and slightly to the left an arched door-head with cham- fered jambs, no voussoirs and base covered by ground. Right end contains a pointed ground-floor window centrally placed between the blocked door and the right gable end. On the first-floor above it and slightly to the left an inserted wood-framed window obscures an original oblong opening. Inserted ground- floor door between pointed window and door to left. Small inserted window under eaves at right end. Interior: Divided into 3 sections corresponding with the changes in window. Narrow central area marked by original stone cross-walls with (probably much later) timber partitions above them between the tie-beams and the apex of the roof. South side of central area, not recessed for a floor and containing the mid-height pointed window, may be stair area. Side walls of east and west sections recessed for floor, that in east section lower than that in west. 3 chamfered posts on stone pads, braced to carry floor, 2 with cross-beams intact, remain in centre of ground floor in west section. Stone doors in north end of both cross-walls on ground and first floors, with chamfered jambs and broach stops, and jambs of another in south end of west wall on first floor.Plain ground floor fireplace in north wall of east section served by stack external on first-floor. Roof to east of opposed barn doors rebuilt, probably in the early C19. 5 regularly-spaced trusses including one with tie-beam embedded in east gable. Straight king posts carrying ridge-piece. Each has 2 evenly-spaced parallel tiers of straight braces to principal rafters. Tie- beams also braced to principal rafters, at steeper angle. Principal rafters carry 4 tiers of slightly staggered butt side purlins. Rest of roof has rafters of relatively uniform scantling, scissor-braced, with collars and ashlar pieces, forming 7 cants, 10 tie-beams, 2 of which are clearly replacements and the remainder possibly re-used; 6 morticed for cornice, wall (or pendant) posts, and braces, and 2 unmorticed over original stone cross walls. Progressive rebuilding has taken place:- the area between the cast cross wall and the king-post roof may be original, that between the cross walls is differently marked and may be slightly later. The area to the west of the west cross-wall was carefully rebuilt in 2 stages in the C18. The whole presents a remarkably uniform appearance.

Listing NGR: TQ7610358681

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

173555

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Archaeologia Cantiana in Archaeologia Cantiana, Vol. 88, (1974)

End of official list entry

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