The Tabernacle, the Mote Cricket Club
Mote Cricket Club, Willow Way, Maidstone, Maidstone, ME15 7RN
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1416462
- Date first listed:
- 27-Nov-2013
- List Entry Name:
- The Tabernacle, the Mote Cricket Club
- Statutory Address:
- Mote Cricket Club, Willow Way, Maidstone, Maidstone, ME15 7RN
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Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1416462
- Date first listed:
- 27-Nov-2013
- List Entry Name:
- The Tabernacle, the Mote Cricket Club
- Statutory Address 1:
- Mote Cricket Club, Willow Way, Maidstone, Maidstone, ME15 7RN
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- Mote Cricket Club, Willow Way, Maidstone, Maidstone, ME15 7RN
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Kent
- District:
- Maidstone (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ7694355120
Summary
A private cricket pavilion built by 1908 for Lord Bearsted, owner of Mote Park, in Vernacular Revival style.
Reasons for Designation
The Tabernacle at the Mote Cricket Club, a private cricket pavilion built by 1908 for Lord Bearsted, owner of Mote Park, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: it is a Vernacular Revival style cricket pavilion built of structural timber-framing of eclectic type with varied brick infill and ornamental joinery details;
* Date: pre-1914 cricket pavilions such as this are rare nationally;
* Degree of intactness: has been recently restored to its original condition;
* Rarity: private as opposed to club cricket pavilions are exceptionally rare;
* Historical associations: the first Lord Bearsted is a figure of national importance for founding Shell oil company as well as local importance as the owner of the Mote estate and as a benefactor to local cricket.
History
The Tabernacle was a private cricket and entertainment pavilion built for the first Lord Bearsted (1853-1927) and officially opened in 1910. This building first appears on the 1908 25 inch Ordnance Survey map with its current footprint.
Born Marcus Samuel, Lord Bearsted's family business was dealing in ornamental sea shells. He founded an oil transportation business which he named 'Shell' after the family business and he was the first chairman of Shell. He owned and lived on the adjoining Mote Park estate from 1895 until his death in 1927.
In 1929 the second Lord Bearsted gifted the cricket ground with The Tabernacle and the larger cricket pavilion to the Mote Cricket Club and the rest of Mote Park, including the mansion, was sold to Maidstone Borough Council.
The building was restored between 2011-13 to be used as a centre of excellence for youth sport.
Details
MATERIALS: eclectic timber-framing with ogee-bracing to the base and vertical studs above with brick infill, laid horizontally, vertically and diagonally, and a timber verandah. Tiled roof with end gablets and a brick chimneystack to the rear.
PLAN: T-shaped plan with large front room behind verandah and smaller heated rear room.
EXTERIOR: front or south-east side has a wooden verandah with a glazed top supported on six turned columns with attached turned balustrades. Behind are two wooden mullioned and transomed windows and a central half-glazed double door with leaded and coloured lights to the transomes and fielded panels at the base. The north-west and south-east ends each have a wooden gablet with a trefoil-shaped cutout to provide ventilation. The front part of each side has one casement each and there are further windows in the set back T-wing. Windows on the south-east side have curved ornamentation at the top and the T-wing windows are smaller and have frosted glass. The south-west or rear side has a simple central doorcase.
INTERIOR: the large front room has a wooden boarded ceiling with two quatrefoil-shaped cutouts for ventilation. A smaller rear room has a fireplace with a bracketed shelf.
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 09-Jun-2026 at 20:07:48.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.