A Brief History of Groombridge

Earliest references to Groombridge suggest that the site was originally occupied by Saxons who established a fortified settlement here, possibly to defend the river crossing. Before the Norman conquest the area was a denn, an early medieval pig pasture, owned as a detached fragment of the Hundred of Somerden, and part of an outlying estate of the royal manor of Dartford.

Under the Norman feudal system, land was granted in return for military service, and on such terms William Russell, one of the barons whose activities forced King John to sign the Magna Carta, was granted lordship of the Manor of Groombridge in the 1230's. William and his wife Haweis built a moated castle here, and in 1239 were granted a charter by Henry III to found a Chantry, a private chapel for the saying of mass.

When William Russell died in 1261 lordship was granted to Henry de Cobham, scion of the influential Kentish family of de Cobham. By the mid fourteenth century the lands were held by Sir John de Clinton, whose grandson, Lord Clinton and Saye, sold Groombridge to Thomas Waller, a local landowner, in approximately 1400. Waller's grandson, Richard, was Master of the Household to the Beaufort family, which in 1412 gave him guardianship of the twelve-year-old Jean, Duke of Angouleme, kept hostage at Groombridge for thirty years against a debt of 150,000 crowns payable by his older brother, Charles, Duke of Orleans, himself a prisoner in Pontefract under ransom from the battle of Agincourt. Over the years of the younger duke's incarceration here he reputedly developed a fondness for the place, and is credited with contributing to the rebuilding of the local church at Speldhurst.

The Waller family owned Groombridge for two hundred years. In 1604 the estate was purchased by Sir Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset and Lord Treasurer of England whose family owned (and still own) lands adjacent to the estate. Sir Thomas, a fine statesman and poet, probably built some of the houses in old Groombridge village at that time. Sir Richard, 3rd Earl of Dorset, was however as profligate as his grandfather had been astute, and was forced in 1618 to sell a number of properties, including Groombridge, to pay gambling debts.

The estate was purchased for �3,400 by John Packer, Clerk of the Privy Seal to King James I and patronage secretary to the Duke of Buckingham. Packer was a deeply religious man whose main contribution to Groombridge was St John's Church, as a thank-offering to God for the safe return of Prince (later King) Charles from a ill-judged mission to Spain to woo the Infanta, Maria Anna, in a fruitless attempt to secure peace between warring Catholics and Protestants in Europe. The church, originally dedicated to St Charles, was completed in 1625.

John Packer died in 1649. We owe what we see at Groombridge today largely to his son Philip. Philip Packer was a gifted intellectual, a barrister at Middle Temple and founder member of the Royal Society. After the coronation of Charles II in 1660, Philip Packer demolished the old castle, built Groombridge Place and laid out new gardens in 1674. He died here on Christmas Eve 1686, and is buried in the church his father built in Groombridge village. By the time his grandson, another Philip, inherited the estate in 1697 it was burdened with debt, and despite attempts to resolve his financial difficulties by marrying a wealthy but mentally unstable heiress twenty-one years his senior, the last Philip died in 1709 owing today's equivalent of one million pounds. The estate became vested in Chancery, awaiting a buyer with sufficient capital to clear its debts and redeem its mortgages. But the administration and procedures of the Chancery office were scandalously corrupt and inept, and largely as a result of this, the estate at Groombridge lay empty for twenty years.

In 1754 William Camfield, a wealthy local yeoman farmer, bought the estate out of Chancery and set about repairing the ravages of twenty years' neglect. According to contemporary records, Camfield rebuilt John Packer's church, which was falling down. In 1766 Thomas Benge-Burr, a local historian, reported that Camfield had, "at great expence. .." saved the estate and village from ". ..the most ruinous condition. ''.

Camfield died in 1781 and his will divided the estate between his two sons; John inherited Groombridge Place while Henry's legacy was Burrswood. In the nineteenth century Groombridge was inherited by the Rev. John Saint, the rector of Speldhurst. After he and his wife died, their three daughters continued to live at the Place, maintaining traditions of benevolence and charity which are remembered today. The last Miss Saint died in 1918, and the estate was purchased the following year by Mr Henry Stanford Mountain. Mr Mountain's son, Stanford Walton Mountain, died at Groombridge in 1984 but his niece, Rosemary Newton, continued to live at the Place until her death in 1991. Mr Mountain's trustees sold the estate and village in 1992.

The Trustees of Andrew de Candole purchased the estate and a sensitive programme of restoration and enhancement of the house and gardens was put into effect, prior to the opening of the gardens to the public in 1994.

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