Boughton Place, formerly Bocton Place or Bocton Hall, is a country house in Boughton Malherbe, Kent, England. It is the historic home of the Wotton family and birthplace of Sir Henry Wotton (1568–1639), ambassador to Venice under James I.[1]
A fortified manor house was built on the site in the 1340s by Robert Corbie. Through the marriage of his grand daughter Joan to Nicholas Wotton, Lord Mayor of London in 1415 and 1430, the house became the property of the Wotton family. The Wottons retained ownership of the house until it passed into the Stanhope family in 1683 when it was willed by Charles Kirkhoven, 1st Baron Wotton to Charles Stanhope, younger son of his half brother Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield. Charles Stanhope changed his name to Wotton and on his death in 1704, the house passed to his elder brother Philip Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Chesterfield. The fourth earl sold the house in 1750 to Galfridus Mann, twin brother of Sir Horace Mann of nearby Linton Hall in Linton. On Galfridus Mann's death, it passed to his son Sir Horatio Mann MP, who also inherited his uncle's baronetcy and Linton Hall in 1786.[2][3]
In 1771, Sir Horatio's sister Catherine married James Cornwallis. Cornwallis later became Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry and was briefly the 4th Earl Cornwallis. His son, James Mann, 5th Earl Cornwallis, inherited Boughton Place and it remained in the Cornwallis family until it was sold by Fiennes Cornwallis, 1st Baron Cornwallis to John Kitchin in 1922.[4]
La casa es lo que queda de una casa con patio más grande, gran parte de la cual ha sido demolida. [1] [5] La primera parte se construyó en la década de 1520 y se agregó y amplió en las décadas de 1550 y 1580 y se realizaron modificaciones en los siglos XIX y XX. Es un edificio de dos plantas alineado aproximadamente de norte a sur con un ático en la cubierta. Está construido principalmente con piedra de trapo local con techo de tejas y ventanas con marcos de piedra en una variedad de tamaños, pero también tiene secciones posteriores construidas con ladrillo rojo. El interior presenta algunos techos de yeso moldeado del siglo XVI, pero los paneles de madera históricos que datan de la década de 1520 fueron retirados de la casa en 1923 y llevados a los Estados Unidos. [1] [5] [nota 1]
La casa es un edificio catalogado de Grado I y una cabaña adyacente y una casa oast están catalogadas como Grado II. [1] [6] [7]
Otros propietarios o residentes de Boughton Place: