Revision as of 17:14, August 29, 2011

Oxenden family house, Deane, Deane House, or Deane Park, Kent

Deane or Deane House was built in 15XX by XXXX. Henry Oxinden of Barham gives a brief building history in a short personal memoire. XXXX.

Badeslade illustrated the house, outhouses and formal gardens in an engraving which was published in John Harris’ The history of Kent in 1719.

Just over one hundred years later Neale remarked that “Deane Park is situated in a beautifully wooded valley, at the southern extremity of the parish of Wingham, about two miles from Lee Priory, and about the same distance from Goodnestone Park. He described it as a “venerable mansion, which is large and noble in its appearance.” The engraving illustrating his entry on Deane Park is described as being taken from near the end of a “very fine old avenue of horse chesnuts.” A less mature tree lined avenue can be seen on Badeslade’s 1719 engraving of the house and gardens. A painting attributed to Charles Tattershall/Dodd and dated 1840 appears to show a circular carriage drive at the front of the house. This is not visible in Neale’s engraved illustration and was also absent from Badeslade’s engraving. Presumably then this was a post 1825 addition.

The main house was three stories in height with high pointed gables. Neale suggested that the gables “appear to have originally been ornamented with small cylindrical shafts on the bases and points,” but that they had now been destroyed by time. The mid- to late-sixteenth century character of the building was still visible, most of the windows having “ancient mullions and transoms to divide the lights.” Some of the windows had painted glass displaying the arms of the family. There was a small sun dial over the front centre entrance. The building it was claimed in 1825 appeared substantially unaltered since its building and retained a “stately appearance.” The grounds had been modified in the mid-seventeenth century, with some limited internal alterations.

There is no estate map for Deane and surviving textual references to the size and nature of the lands and tenements associated with the house are very limited. Sir George Oxenden's elder brother, Sir Henry Oxenden, wrote only sparingly of estate matters. XXXX. In XXXX the Oxenden family moved its main residence to Broome Park. Deane house, later referred to as Deane park, appears to have remained inhabited until at least the early nineteenth century, though the tenants are unknown. Neale in his description of the building published in 1825 describes a venerable building, but one which is not in ruinous condition. Presumably, but without confirmation to date, the estate associated with Deane house stayed within the family.

Early C19th memoir of Broome Park and Deane

A memoir of a later Sir Henry Oxenden (1756-1838), of Broome Park, written by his estate manager, makes mention of both Broome Park and Deane. The estate manager had worked for Sir Henry for nine years, from 1829 to 1838, so the colour the account provides refers chiefly to that period.

Sir Henry's farm was described as having an uneven quality of land: "his farm being of that tenacious, strong, and uneven description." By then the estates had about 250 acres of arable land, producing turnips, oats, barley and beans. He fattened bullocks from Michaelmas to April for sale, generally having sixty to eighty such animals, and also fattened hogs, rearing ten good sized hogs "which were required yearly for the consumption of the mansion." Early fat lambs were reared and generally sold to Dover butchers, who collected them from the farm. Sheep were Sir Henry's passion, presumably in part the result of poor quality grazing, with noblemen and gentlemen, or in their stead their stewards and shephards, attending an annual "sheep day" on Sir Henry's estate to improve their flocks.

As for Dene, Sir Henry's estate manager writes:

“Sir Henry, for many years, paid great attention to the cultivation of hops. He had (and his father before him) a rather large quantity in cultivation at Dene, in the parish of Wingham, which was reduced from time to time to about 15 acres. These were known to almost everyone, as the old Dene Ground, having been planted before the memory of the oldest inhabitants in Wingham; and was, very probably, one of the oldest as well as the best grounds in that neighbourhood….being a distance of 6 miles from Broome, the superintendence of it was left to the tenant of Dene Farm, close by. For many years previous to Sir Henry’s decease, the late Mr. Richard Laslett had been the tenant, a most worthy and good man, to whom Sir Henry was much attached. And previous to his occupation of the farm, the family of Hawks had, for very many years, been the tenants, to whom also the management of the hop grounds had been entrusted.”

Sources

Harris, John, History of Kent (XXXX, 1719)
Neale, John Preston, and Thomas Moule, ’Dean Parke’ in Views of the seats of noblemen and gentlemen, in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland (XXXX, 1825)
Oxinden, Henry (of Barham), XXXX (XXXX, XXXX)
Recollections of the Late Sir Henry Oxenden, Bart.,of Broome Park, Respectfully Inscribed to Robert Collard, Esq., of Reculver, Edward Gibbens, Esq., of Minster, and the Tenantry of the Broome Estate by a Late Steward (Canterbury, 1862)