EYNSFORD 994/0/10011 CROCKENHILL LANE 15-JAN-02 Eynsford Hill and attached terrace wal ls, masonry, steps and gazebo II House with attached terrace walls, masonry, steps and gazebo. Pantry window dated 1913. Architect not known but in Vernacular Revival style and possibly a lost building by M H Baillie Scott, designed in 1912 and described by the architect in an article in "The Studio" January 1914 as "A House in a Wood." Built for the distinguished author Arthur Mee and his home until death forty years later. Rendered house with sandstone window dressings and tiled roofs with four tall cement chimneystacks. Two storeys with irregular fenestration. Windows are casements with leaded lights. L-shaped plan. EXTERIOR: North or entrance front is asymmetrical and L-shaped. Four gables, the right side one projecting and with attached one storey service wing with one four-light casement and linked by a section of walling to a one storey garden building with roof in two hips, one casement window and two garage doors. The middle two gables are of irregular size with pattern of four air bricks with one two-light and two three-light casements to first floor and one three-light and one four-light window to ground floor. Left side round-headed doorcase with impost blocks, tiled hood moulding and decorative full-height metal grille to door. Recessed left side gable has external channelled chimneystack and one four-light window to ground floor. Attached to the house is a section of terrace wall extending northwards in stock burr bricks with tiled coping and ball finial. West elevation has gable to south and service wing to north with four casements and pantry window dated 1913 in solid metal pane. South or garden front is symmetrical of two storeys with five windows. Recessed central three bays and projecting end bays. Centre has ground floor seven-light canted bay and above a French window flanked by two two-light casements. Penultimate windows are three-light casements. Projecting gables have four-light casements but doorcase flanked by sidelights to left side ground floor. Attached to the west side of the house is further terracing of stock burr bricks with tiled coping on three sides of a rectangle. The west side has a built-in flowerbed and two flights of steps, the south side has two sets of steps and incorporates some stone fragments said to come from the old Houses of Parliament including two mediaeval angels bearing shields and a central fragment with quatrefoil and three trefoils. The south east corner incorporates a gazebo with round-headed arch with tiled keystone, balustrading and a stone statue of mother and child. INTERIOR: Staircase hall has panelling and dogleg main staircase with large painted turned balusters, square newel posts and two round-headed arches with impost blocks. Dining Room has built-in seating to the bay window. The Library where Arthur Mee wrote his books and articles contains original oak bookshelves, display cabinets, oak fireplace with marble surround and copper firehood, carved wooden settle, coved cornice and stained glass panels incorporated in the windows including one with the initials M E M, his daughter's initials. The first floor has a built-in settle at the western end of the corridor and a service staircase with trellis-work balustrading. A number of two-panelled doors and coved cornices survive. HISTORY: Arthur Henry Mee(1875-1943) was a journalist on the staff of Lord Northcliffe and a prolific author of children's books including "Children's Encyclopedia", first issued 1908 and "Arthur Mee's Thousand Heroes (1933-40). He edited "Children's Newspaper" 1919-43. He also produced "The King's England" a survey of 10,000 towns and villages in the country with an introductory volume and 37 county volumes between 1936 and 1943. M H Baillie Scott built a number of houses in the Sevenoaks area and Eynsford Hill was situated in the middle of a wood. [Concise DNB pp 298-299. "Who Was Who" 1941-1950 pp 783-784. J D Kornwolf "M H Baillie Scott and the Arts and Crafts Movement." 1972. P 546 and 565. Article by Baillie Scott in "The Studio" about "A House in a Wood" January 1914. pp 288f.]