Mereworth Castle

Mereworth Castle is a grade I listed Palladian country house in Mereworth, Kent, England.

History 

Originally the site of a fortified manor licensed in 1332, the present building is not actually a castle, but was built in the 1720s as an almost exact copy of Palladio's Villa Rotunda. It was designed in 1723 by Colen Campbell who had been commissioned by John Fane, 7th Earl of Westmorland. The interior features plasterwork by Giovanni Bagutti and fresco painting by Francesco Sleter.  The house is situated in a landscaped park and valley with a number of surrounding pavilions and lodges which are also Grade I listed.

The house passed through descent to Barons Oranmore and Browne whose family seat it became. It was sold in 1930  and used as a prisoner of war camp during World War II. In the 1950s and 1960s it was owned by artist Michael Lambert Tree (1921–1999), a son of Ronald Tree and an heir to the Marshall Field mercantile fortune, and his wife, Lady Anne Cavendish, daughter of the 10th Duke of Devonshire. Tree inherited the house from his uncle, Peter Beatty, who died on 26 October 1949.

The Wateringbury Stream passes through the grounds of the castle. It powered a fulling mill at the eastern end of the castle grounds.

Mereworth Castle is owned by Mahdi Al-Tajir, the former United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United Kingdom and owner of the Highland Spring bottled water company, who purchased it in 1976 for $1.2 million. It is not generally accessible to the public, but does open on rare occasions for guided tours.

References

Sources 
Stutchbury, Howard, The Architecture of Colin Campbell, Harvard University Press, 1967, 54-58. 
Harris, John, The Palladians, Trefoil Publications Ltd, 1981, 66-67. 
Country Life, XLVII, 808,876,912; XCV, 242; CIV,728; CXVI, 209

External links

The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses
York University website entry
1930s photographs

Category:Buildings by Colen Campbell
Category:Country houses in Kent
Category:Grade I listed buildings in Kent
Category:Grade I listed houses
Category:Houses completed in 1725
Category:Tonbridge and Malling
Category:Neoclassical architecture in England
Category:Rotundas in the United Kingdom
Category:Palladian architecture in England
Category:World War II prisoner of war camps in England
Category:Villas in the United Kingdom
Category:1725 establishments in England