A moated medieval manor house in the Kent Downs, its stone and timber ranges little changed in six centuries, now National Trust
Open to visitorsa National Trust place — check opening times and admission before you go
Tucked into a wooded valley below the greensand ridge, Ightham Mote (the village is ‘Item’, the house near enough the same) is a moated manor house that has grown by stages since the 1300s and never been swept away and rebuilt. Ranges of stone, timber and Tudor brick enclose a central courtyard, the whole lot sitting inside a square moat crossed by bridges — the name is usually traced to that ring of water, though some read it as ‘moot’, a meeting place. Inside are a medieval great hall, a Tudor chapel with a painted ceiling, and a Grade I listing that marks it as one of the finest medieval houses of its kind in England. The National Trust took it on in the 1980s and spent years on a painstaking repair. It stands in the Kent Downs near Sevenoaks, with the Greensand Way passing the gate and the great deer park of Knole a few miles west.
