Somerhill House

Somerhill House is a substantial Jacobean country house built between 1611 and 1613 for Richard Burke, 4th Earl of Clanricarde, set in parkland about 2.5 miles south of Tonbridge in Kent. Its steeply gabled brick facade and strict symmetry are among the more intact examples of early 17th-century Jacobean design in southern England. During the English Civil War the estate was seized by Parliament in 1645, only to be restored to its rightful owners in 1660 — an interlude that contributed to the building's partial decay during the 18th century before restoration work brought it back. William Turner painted the house in 1811, embedding it in the landscape-art tradition of the Regency period. After the Goldsmid family purchased it in 1849, major extensions between 1879 and 1897 transformed it into the second-largest private house in Kent. It is now a Grade I listed building, recognised for its outstanding architectural and historical significance.