Revision as of 11:25, September 12, 2011

Wingham Mansion or Wingham Court

Wingham Mansion, also known as Wingham Court, was a mansion house located close to Wingham parish church, and about one mile to the north of Deane, owned by the Palmer family. The Palmer family's residence in Wingham dates to the purchase by Sir Henry Palmer of the grant of the college of Wingham, following the dissolution of ecclesiastical property, which Sir Henry and later Palmers made their seat.

D.K. Gardiner states in her notes to a letter from Sir Thomas Palmer to Sir James Oxinden that "the house stood immediately to the east of the church, behind a tall old red brick wall which still borders the highway. Within living memory she states it was described by old people in the village, who could recall its demolition, as the Mansion, or Wingham Mansion."

Hasted records that Sir Thomas Palmer's grandfather was well known for his hospitality at his mansion, a custom which, from the correspondence of Sir James Oxinden and his son Henry Oxinden of Deane, appears to have continued to the grandson's residence at the mansion in Wingham.

An engraving in the Kent Register and Monthly Miscellany (1793) shows a close up of the Palmer's house.

An engraving entitled Wingham College and Church, dated 1808, shows the Palmer's house to the right of the parish church.

Sources

Letter from Sir Thomas Palmer to Sir James Oxinden of Deane, MS. 27,999, f. XXX
Letter from Henry Oxinden of Deane to Henry Oxinden of Barham (his cousin): Letter 1, MS. 27, 999, f. 308
- Hasted, Edward, 'Parishes: Wingham', The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 9 (1800), pp. 224-241

Image credits

'Wingham College and Church', plate in E.W.Brayley, XXXX, vol. 8 (London, 1808), betw. p. 1090 & 1091
'The antient seat of the Palmers at Wingham, plate in Kentish Register and Monthly Miscellany (?London, 1793), betw. p. 1442 & 443

Possible further research