TQ 67 41 BRENCHLEY HIGH STREET, BRENCHLEY 15/89 (north side) 20.10.54 Portobello GV II House. 1739, built for Timothy Monckton, remodelled and extended in 1839 for Jonathan Monckton, internal alterations of 1970. The principal block is stuccoed and blocked out with a slate roof, the rear blocks are brick to the ground floor, tile-hung, framed construction above and painted white, with a peg-tile roof; stacks with rendered shafts. Plan: The house faces approximately west. Double depth plan;2 rooms wide with a central entrance. 2 principal rooms to the front with a smaller principal room in the rear right wing; rear left service block, roofed parallel to the main range. The irregularity of the service block suggests that the 1739 phase may have incorporated an earlier building on the site. The right end bay of the main block is an addition or more likely rebuilding of 1839, including a first floor bow on the right return. During this phase the house was re-roofed. In 1970 the straight stair facing the front door was replaced with a curving stair in a late C18 manner and there were minor alterations to the internal partitions. Exterior: 2 storeys. Slate roof, hipped at ends of main range with deep eaves on paired brackets with lozenges on the soffit, stacks with semi- circular dividers to the shafts. Almost symmetrical 7-bay front, the right end bay with early C19 16-pane sashes, the other windows probably C18 12-pane sashes with chamfered architraves. Fine projecting Doric porch, shown on an elevation dated 1826. The porch has a Portland stone step, an entablature with a triglyph frieze with guttae and a deep projecting cornice, the soffit decorated with paterae. 6-panel front door with fielded panels in a round- headed doorframe with panelled reveals and a fanlight that incorporates a candle lantern with iron cresting with antefixae at the angles. The lantern could be lit from inside the house. The right return of the main block has a first floor bow carried on columns with 16-pane sashes to the first and ground floor. The rear block has a pre 1826 ground floor canted bay window with a modillion frieze, moulded cornice and fluted pilasters, glazed with 16- and 8- pane sashes. Beyond it the house is tile-hung to the first floor with a 6- panel door with a flat porch hood into the service block; one first floor 2- light casement and, at the east end of the wing an oversailing first floor, probably to provide a verandah. The left return is stuccoed and blocked out with a C19 panelled door into the rear block which has a bulls eye window in the gable with diagonal glazing bars and a moulded architrave. The asymmetrical rear elevation has a set of C20 casements with square leaded panes, except the first floor of the south east wing which has an C18 3-light casement with square leaded panes and quadrant window catches. Interior: Retains a number of C18 features; the 1970 alterations are sympathetic. The front right room has a white marble chimney-piece with reeded jambs, re-sited from elsewhere in the house. The left end room chimney-piece has been removed. The 1970 stair has stick balusters and a mahogany handrail and rises to the original C18 first floor arch with a dentil frieze. The first floor left hand room has a fine C18 timber chimney-piece complete with fire basket. Original joinery includes shutters and 2-panel doors. The attic space of the front block is plastered for service accommodation and includes original doors. Where the roof structure is exposed in the service blocks it is of clasped purlin construction. The house was named in celebration of Admiral Vernon's capture of Portobello in 1739. Group value with the barn, cottage and garden walls. A handsome gentry house, visible from the road, with some fine interior and external detail. A copy of an elevation of the house, dated 1826 and signed by John Adams, surveyor, of Tenterden, is in the possession of the owner. Listing NGR: TQ6781341889