Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for KNOLE

KNOLE, a noble mansion in Sevenoaks parish, Kent; in a park about 6½ miles in circuit, adjacent to the E and SE of Sevenoaks town. It belonged, in the 15th century, to Lord Say and Sele; was purchased from him, in 1456, by Archbishop Bouchier; was rebuilt by that prelate, and left by him to the see of Canterbury; was enlarged by Cardinal Morton, and visited in his time by Henry VII.; gave entertainment, at two periods, in the time of Archbishop Warham, to Henry VIII.; was resigned by Cranmer to the Crown; was visited, in 1573, by Elizabeth; passed through a succession of royal favourites to Thomas Sackville, Earl of Dorset; went back, for a short time, in the reign of Charles II., to the Crown; returned to the Sackville family; and belongs now to the Dowager Countess Amherst, the co-heiress of the last Sackville, Duke of Dorset. It covers, with its outbuildings, about three acres of ground; it was completely re-fitted in 1605-7, so as to take the impression of that period on both the architecture and its furniture; it exhibits, as to general effect, the English collegiate character; it presents, on its principal front, a central gatehouse, and a long range of gables and un-relieved wall; it includes a great hall, 75 feet long and 27 feet high, with a flat roof and a dais; and it contains a large collection of historical portraits and other interesting objects.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a noble mansion"   (ADL Feature Type: "residential sites")
Administrative units: Sevenoaks AP/CP       Kent AncC
Place: Knole

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