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Line 1: {{Short description|Country estate and manor house in Kent, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date= {{Use British English|date=February 2023}} [[File:The main building at Benenden School behind the trees - geograph.org.uk - 878216.jpg|300px|thumb|Parkland at Hemsted Park with the main building of Benenden School beyond the trees]] '''Hemsted Park''', historically sometimes known as '''Hempsted Park''',<ref name=kaschurch>[http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Libr/MIs/MIsBenenden/01.htm Monumental Inscriptions of Benenden Church and Churchyard, from a book, published in 1889 by Rev Francis Haslewood, Rector of St Matthew's Church, Ipswich], Benenden, Kent Archaeological Society. Retrieved 2017-12-02.</ref> is a {{convert|100|ha|acre}} former country estate and manor house north-west of the village of [[Benenden]] in the [[English county]] of [[Kent]]. It is the site of [[Benenden School]], an independent boarding school for girls. The school operates a commercial arts programme using the name Hemsted Park. Line 9 ⟶ 11: ==History== [[File:Hemsted Park, Benenden.jpg|thumb|Hemsted Park painted in around 1870 by [[Alexander Francis Lydon]].]] The park has a [[Roman Britain|Roman]] settlement within its boundaries and is at the junction of two [[Roman roads in Britannia|Roman roads]] – one from [[Ashford, Kent|Ashford]] and the other from [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]].<ref name=caa05>[http://www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/19403/PP_SPG_Benenden_Iden_Green_CAA.pdf Benenden and Iben Green], Conservation Areas Appraisal, [[Tunbridge Wells Borough Council]], April 2005. Retrieved 2017-12-04.</ref> There are nearby [[Romano-British]] settlements.<ref name=paths>[https://www.highweald.org/downloads/publications/2043-field-systems-in-the-high-weald-case-study-report-benenden-south-by-footpath-march-2017/file.html Case study report: Benenden by footpath], High Weald AONB Unit Report, [[Historic England]]. March 2017. Retrieved 2017-12-02.</ref><ref name=trails2>[http://www.benendenvillage.org.uk/trails/Benendentrails2.pdf Trail 2: The Old Manor House, Hemsted and The Ford], Historic landscape trails in Benenden, Benenden Amenity and Countryside Society. Retrieved 2017-12-02.</ref> There is reference to the "dene of Hemsted" in a charter of 993 issued by [[Æthelred the Unready]],<ref name=milton92>Milton H (1992) ''Cricket Grounds of Kent'', pp. 31–32. Nottingham: [[The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians]]. ([https://archive.acscricket.com/cricket_grounds/kent_grounds/index.html Available online]. Retrieved 2022-04-04.)</ref> but the earliest available records show the land in the possession of [[Odo, Earl of Kent]], the man believed to have commissioned the [[Bayeux Tapestry]], having been given it―amongst much other property in the county―by his half-brother [[William the Conqueror]] after the [[Norman Conquest]].<ref name=schoolhistory>[http://www.benenden.kent.sch.uk/2309/overview/history-of-benenden "History of Benenden"], [[Benenden School]]. Retrieved 2017-12-02.</ref> The first property on the site was a house built by Robert of Hemsted which is first recorded in 1216 and was moated in the 12th century.<ref name=paths /><ref name=ireland340>[[William Henry Ireland|Ireland WH]] (1829) [https://books.google. In 1388, [[Richard II of England|Richard II]] granted the manor to William of Guldeford, the first of the [[Guldeford baronets]] of Hemsted who made changes to the original house.<ref name=caa05 /><ref name=ireland340 /><ref name=burke230>[[John Burke (genealogist)|Burke J]], [[Bernard Burke|Burke JB]] (1838) Guldeford of Hemsted, ''A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies of England'', pp.230–231. London: London: John Russell Smith. ([https://books.google. In the early 18th century the property was sold to Admiral [[John Norris (Royal Navy officer)|Sir John Norris]], the commander-in-chief of [[George II of Great Britain|George II]]'s navy.<ref name=caa05 /><ref name=ireland340 /><ref name=burke230 /> He was instrumental in landscaping the estate, enlarging the park and forming much of the parkland as it is now.<ref name=paths /><ref name=schoolhistory /> The house was sold to Thomas Hallett Hodges, who was [[High Sheriff of Kent]] in 1786, in 1780.<ref name=ireland340 /><ref name=burke230 /><ref name=has194>Haslewood ''[[Op. cit.]]'', p.194.</ref><ref name=tlh>[http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/hodges-thomas-1776-1857 Hodges, Thomas Law (1776-1857), of Hemsted Place, Benenden, Kent], The History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 2017-12-02.</ref> He reduced the size of the hall, removing two wings of the brick built house, one of which had two octagonal towers, filled in the moat that had until that point encircled it and created the lake in the grounds.<ref name=has194 /><ref name=he>[https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000195 Benenden country house], [[National Heritage List for England]], [[Historic England]]. Retrieved 2017-12-02.</ref> Hodges' son, [[Thomas Law Hodges]] inherited the house in 1801 and began to develop the grounds of the park, planting trees across it.<ref name=he /> Line 35 ⟶ 37: | end1 = | end2 = | year1 = | club1 = Benenden Cricket Club | year2 = 1843 Line 43 ⟶ 45: | source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Grounds/11/313.html CricketArchive }} A cricket pitch was laid out at Hemsted Park{{efn|[[CricInfo]] and CricketArchive both call the ground Hensted Park in their databases and place it at Benenden. Other sources, including [[Kent County Cricket Club]], Benenden Cricket Club and the contemporary report of the match in The Sporting Magazine, call the ground Hemsted (or Hempsted) Park. Given the geography it seems reasonable to assume that the database(s) used by CricInfo and CricketArchive have a transcription error and that the local and contemporary sources are more reliable}} during the early 19th century by the Hodges family and used for a number of "society matches".<ref name=bcc>[http://benendencc.play-cricket.com/website/news_articles/107768 A brief history of Benenden Cricket Club], Benenden Cricket Club, 2014-06-16. Retrieved 2017-12-02.</ref> A match in 1835 between a team assembled by [[Thomas Twisden Hodges]] and one from [[Sheldwich|Sheldwich Lees]] representing [[Lewis Watson, 3rd Baron Sondes|Lord Sondes]] was watched by over 6,000 spectators<ref name=bcc/> and the ground was the home ground of Benenden Cricket Club, who were a significant side in Kent at the time, between 1835 and 1843.<ref name=milton92/><ref name=milton79>Milton H (1979) Kent cricket grounds, in ''The Cricket Statistician'', no.28, December 1979, pp.2–10.</ref> The ground The only recorded [[first-class cricket]] match on the ground was in 1843, when [[Kent County Cricket Club]] played [[England national cricket team|an England side]] in a [[benefit match]] for [[Ned Wenman]].<ref name=bcc/><ref name=milton79/><ref name=sm261>Kent against England, ''The Sporting magazine; or Monthly calendar of the transactions of the turf, the chace, and every other diversion interesting to the man of pleasure and enterprize'', 1843, p.264. ([https://books.google. The match was the third match of the season between Kent and England. Kent won, scoring 199 runs in their two innings whilst England scored 100 runs.<ref name=sm261/> The occasion was described: Line 71 ⟶ 73: [[Category:Cricket grounds in Kent]] [[Category:Defunct sports venues in Kent]] [[Category:Country houses in Kent]] | |||