Denton Court, Denton, Kent

Joanna Barker

Denton Court was an imposing Elizabethan manor house in the village of Denton in Kent, and was the residence of Rev William Robinson and his family for twenty years. It was rented from Mrs Cecilia Scott of Scot’s Hall, who had presented the living of Denton to William, but on her death in 1785 it was passed to her nephew Thomas Scott. Thomas did not occupy Denton Court, and in 1792 it was purchased, in a derelict state, by Samuel Egerton Brydges, who in 1796 married as his second wife Mary Robinson, younger daughter of Rev William Robinson. The work took five years, and Brydges later claimed that he had spent the sum of £8,000 (equivalent to three-quarters of a million pounds today) on restoring Denton Court, which was the beginning of his lifelong financial difficulties. In 1810 he moved to Lee Priory, which had been inherited by his eldest son, and in 1818 was forced to flee the country to escape his creditors. Denton Court was again left to decay; the house still exists but was much altered in the nineteenth century.

Please note that all dates and location information are provisional, initially taken from the library and archive catalogues. As our section editors continue to work through the material we will update our database and the changes will be reflected across the edition.

Browser support: The website works best using the Chrome, Edge, and Firefox browsers on the PC, and only Chrome and Firefox on the Mac.