The sales details for historic, Grade I-listed Luddesdown Court, near Cobham, Kent – currently on the market with Knight Frank at a guide price of £3.5 million – suggest that the former manor house, which was held by William the Conqueror’s half-brother, Odo, until his disgrace in 1082, may be ‘the oldest continually occupied house in the country’.
It is a debate that has exercised the minds of successive generations of Country Life readers. In 1931, Knight Frank’s Arthur J. Burrows described Luddesdown as ‘the oldest court lodge in Kent’ and ‘presumably one of the most ancient continuously inhabited domestic buildings in the kingdom’.
At that time, it was owned by a Mr Cobbett Barker, ‘who has done much towards disclosing the appearance it must have had when first erected about the year 1120’. Then, as now, it was ‘an L-shaped structure with immensely thick rubble walls of Caen stone... with the Great Hall, in which the courts would be held, located on the first floor’.
Some 33 years later, in June 1964, when offers over £30,000 were sought by Knight, Frank and Rutley and John D. Wood, a Country Life article agreed that ‘it would be difficult to substantiate – or indeed to refute – a claim that any particular house is the oldest one in England. Nevertheless, there can be no question that Luddesdown Manor, near Meopham, Kent, is one of the oldest houses to have been in continuous occupation since it was built’.
Whatever the facts of the matter, lofty Luddesdown Court, set in some 23 acres of formal gardens, grounds and paddock, surrounded by open countryside yet only 26 miles from Canary Wharf, has weathered the centuries well.
The atmospheric, 6,820sq ft house also has a sumptuous 3,000sq ft swimming-pool complex – that at least is a more modern addition.
There are also more than 2,000sq ft of outbuildings, offers historic living at its finest, with four reception rooms, a dove house, the magnificent Great Hall and minstrels’ gallery and five good-sized bedrooms.
Luddesdown Court is for sale via Knight Frank at £3.5m – see more pictures and details.
A beautiful country house and gardens in a startlingly picturesque medieval fishing village
St Adrians is a dream of a house: the delightful features of a fine country house, yet not so big
Seven spectacular properties in Italy, from a perfect medieval farmhouse to a stunning Florentine palace
A second home in Italy is a dream come true for many – we've picked out six of the finest
Lyddington Palace: A perfectly-preserved grand interior of late-medieval England
A residence of the Bishop of Lincoln converted into an almshouse offers a unique insight into the realities of grand
Longthorpe Tower's 700-year-old insight into the medieval mind
This surviving cycle of 14th-century paintings still has the power to intrigue, amuse and inform. It also offers a remarkable
Great Chalfield Manor: How this medieval house was loved back to life
In the second of two articles, Clive Aslet reveals how this medieval manor house was loved back to life by
-
This elegant Greek villa offers would-be buyers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live in the shadow of the AcropolisAthenian Legacy consists of two houses in walking —and almost touching — distance of one of the world’s most famous and precious landmarks.
-
Go Dutch: Understanding the Duke of Wellington’s passion for Dutch art and how to view his collectionArthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington was a terrible Prime Minister, but made up for it by being a sophisticated collector.
-
This elegant Greek villa offers would-be buyers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live in the shadow of the AcropolisAthenian Legacy consists of two houses in walking —and almost touching — distance of one of the world’s most famous and precious landmarks.
-
Six charming homes up for sale, including one dubbed 'one of the most picturesque in Dorset', as seen in Country LifeOur look at the finest houses to come up for sale through Country Life in the past week is full of delights, from a new-Georgian mansion to a perfectly-sized Hertfordshire estate.
-
A Buckinghamshire mansion built for the speech therapist who set Churchill on his path to greatnessPenny Churchill takes a look at Rignalls, a classic Arts-and-Crafts home that looks like it's stepped out of the pages of an EM Forster novel.
-
An idyllic Hampstead mansion whose price has risen nine times faster than inflation — and it's not hard to see whyCloth Hill is even more beautiful on the inside than it is on the outside.
-
Some of Scotland's most beautiful churches are being sold off for as little as £40,000 — but a word of warning before you take the plungeLucy Denton examines how best to help former church buildings thrive as times move on and property changes hands.
-
Inside the £28 million mansion designed to 'shake things up' and 're-define the English country house of the 21st century'With everything from helicopter parking and a 1000-bottle wine cellar to bespoke wallpaper designed by Christian Lacroix, Harford Manor is a country house like no other. Annabel Dixon took a closer look and spoke to the man behind its creation.
-
A blissful and beautifully named home in one of the most exclusive spots in CornwallPenny Churchill takes a look at Boswodegh, a wonderful home that makes the most of its superb location in Helford Passage.
-
A sleek, seven-bedroom villa with a wine cave, wellness space and a 20-person JacuzziIncredible attention to detail at Almancil Loulé's, an amazing home for sale in Portugal's exclusive Quinta do Lago resort.
