GOUDHURST TWYSSENDEN TQ 73 NS 5/275 Twyssenden Manor and wall projecting 9.6.52 GV II* House. C15, altered and extended C16 to C17, and restored mid C19. Timber framed with exposed restored frame with plaster infill, return and rear eleva- tions tile hung on 1st floor with red brick in English Bond and sandstone on ground floor, and with central stone tower. Plain tiled roofs. Hall house origin, with L-shaped additional wings. ------ entrance elevation to old hall range: 4 framed bay, probable Wealden hall house plan, now 2 storeys on sand- stone plinth, with hipped roof and stacks to end left, to centre right, to end right and to rear wings. Three 3 light mullioned and transomed windows on each floor, those to left with sidelights, with 2 light to centre right, and plank and stud door to centre right in four centred arched doorway. Basement opening to right. Projecting wall at right about 3 feet high of sandstone with red brick repairs, and returned to left to front garden. The additional hipped and gabled wings to rear form a small open paned courtyard, which formed the early C17 main entrance, with a central stone tower, lowered and given a hipped tiled roof C19. Ground floor with crudely executed composition with 4 Ionic pilasters, the outer bays with round headed niches with pediments in scrolled brackets, with central stone cross window with label, and boarded round headed doors in keyed surround in squared frame. Above the doorway the arms of Anthony Fowle, temp. Charles I. Upper floor with 2 simple single lights. Interior: crown post roof to earlier range. Fireplace with Anthony Fowle's court of Arms, early C17 panelling covering wall paintings (Tudor rose pattern and inscription of the marriage vow). Rich C17 staircase. On restoration (c.1870) trap doors were discovered leading to 'secret' priests chamber, with altar and painting of Virgin; a small hidden chapel had already been discovered. The ancient seat of the Twysden family, of note in Kent; birthplace of Lord Chief Baron of Exchequer Sir Geoffrey Gilbert (1674-1721). Restored c.1870 by Alexander Bereford-Hope, acting as his own architect but assisted by advice from Butterfield and Street (see Goudhurst Coronation Book; F Esam, Manor and Farmhouses of Kent; BOE Kent I, 1980, 299. Listing NGR: TQ7136035207