In the entry for AYLESFORD CP LONDON ROAD (north side) 12/64 Preston Hall Hospital The address shall be amended to read: AYLESFORD CP LONDON ROAD (north side) Preston Hall (otherwise known as Preston Hall Hospital) In the entry for - AYLESFORD LONDON ROAD (north side)12/64 Preston Hall Hospital The address shall be amended to read - TQ 7258 AYLESFORD LONDON ROAD (north side) 12/64 Preston Hall(Otherwise known as Preston Hall Hospital) TQ 7258 AYLESFORD CP LONDON ROAD (north side) 12/64 Preston Hall Hospital GV II Country house in landscaped park, now hospital. 1850 by John Thomas for Edward Betts, in a neo-Elizabethan style. Coursed dressed stone with ashlar dressings, strings and main cornice. Parapets and Dutch-type gables with gable parapets with urns to plain and fish-scale slate roof with irregular stacks and octagonal chimneys on square pedestals. South front: Central block. Symmetrical about central 4-storey balustraded tower and with gabled end projections. 2 storeys with attics. 5 bays with transom and mullion windows in all bays, except in the outer bays on the ground and 1st floors which have octagonal projecting bays topped by bracketed cornices. Lunette-topped semi-dormers with shell decoration in lunettes in intermediate bays. Bracketed cornice to tower with range of square windows below. Large cross-window with bracketed cornice supported on stud-banded Corinthian pilasters below, on 2nd floor. Tower octagonal at this stage and transition effected by corner urn-like elements above main cornice of buildings. Large 1st floor aedicule with bracketed cornice on doubled stud- banded Corinthian pilasters on 1st floor. Central ground floor porte-cochere on double banded columns and pedestals, with bracketed cornice moulding, the ends flanked by scutcheons and griffins. Central arched door surround behind porte- cochere with double panelled doors and arched overlight. Wing to left: Symmetrical, of 3 bays, with further wing to left. 2 1/2 storeys, with semi- dormers. Gabled projection with canted octagonal oriel on 1st floor. 6 and 4-light transom and mullion windows. Wing of stable block projecting at right angles to left. Central arched entrance to stable court behind topped by diagonally-placed octagonal tower with broached cupola and flanking gables. 1½ storeys; 6 windows with Dutch-type gabled projection to left and second Dutch-type gable to right. Semi-dormers with small Dutch-type gables over remaining bays. Tall, triple octagonal stacks behind main ridge. 1, 2 and 3-light transom and mullion windows. Stable courtyard behind now much altered. North front: 2 1/2 storeys. Tall 2-storey central projecting bay with octagonally- hipped roof appearing over balustrade with much heraldic and floral decoration at cornice level, and flanked by intermediate bays and smaller 2-storey bays beyond. Low wings to right masking stable court. Towers to left and right, that to left octagonal with ogee dome, that to right square with balustrade. Interior: Vestibule. Articulated by applied three-quarter columns supporting full entablature. Niches in centre of side walls, flanked by windows; doors also flanked by windows, all with blocked arched surrounds and lozenge decora- tion. Ribbed ceiling above, each rib resting on volute bracket with shield. Hall: Galleried with pierced balustrade. Clerestoried vault. 2-light open-well stair rising to left of stair. Dining room: Wooden panelled ceiling with arched trusses on carved corbels of figureheads. Panels between stencilled; room now divided horizontally to provide 2 rooms. Library: Wooden carved panelling with book shelves with moulded fronts. Wooden and marble fireplace supporting mirror in wooden surround, all highly decorated. 4 stained glass upper window panes in bow. Side room: Moulded wooden panelling, fire surround, large book cabinet and cornice. Neo-Elizabethan moulded plaster ceiling. 1st floor stair: Single flight stair from top of main stairs. Barrel-vaulted with wooden-arched architrave, wooden panelling and ribs with plaster infilling. This house replaced an earlier one that was built and continuously remodelled; its form known in 1720 from an engraving by Kip and c.1750 from various paintings and engravings including one by Godfrey. See Five Medway Villages, W Bergess and S Sage, Rainham, 1983, 12-13. Thomas also built Somerleyton Hall, Suffolk, (1840) for Morton Peto, Betts business partner. Listing NGR: TQ7294757987