From the report:

" In 1820, John Ward, later MP for Leominster (1830–1) and High Sheriff of Kent (1835), purchased land on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells to the north of Pembury Road on which to build a speculative residential estate. In 1828, he commissioned the young architect Decimus Burton (1800-81) to design what became the Calverley Estate, a picturesque residential park later described as a ‘prototype garden suburb’ (Country Life). The Calverley Estate was not completed until 1839 but was influential in the development of other residential parks and private houses in the Tunbridge Wells area (The House and Gardens of Blackhurst ). In 1828, Ward had also bought an additional 364h of land south of the Pembury Road for development from the adjoining Sandown Estate. In 1836 he granted a building lease for 90 years for c.6.5h of this land to a Mr Ford Wilson, who commissioned Burton to design a house there. The house, named Blackhurst, was completed in 1838 and is illustrated in Greenwood’s The Epitome of the Kent of the same year.
Census returns record the Wilsons as in residence in 1841 and the family remained there until 1863 when Mrs Eliza Wilson died, a year after her husband. During his residency Wilson bought additional land around the house and extended the estate to c.28h, although before his death he sold some 6.5ha and Little Mouseden Farm, part of his original holding (The House and Gardens of Blackhurst). The 1st edn OS map of 1862 shows a house with adjoining stable block and kitchen garden set in treed parkland. On Mrs Wilson’s death Blackhurst reverted to the Ward Estate and John’s son Arthur became the sole owner.
The house was tenanted from then onwards, although the occupants are not recorded until 1878, when a retired manufacturer, William Wilson Morley, was in residence (Census data). He also purchased farmland around Blackhurst, which he retained when he moved to Eastbourne in 1881. In 1886 the railway builder, Sir Samuel Morton Peto, retired to Blackhurst with his wife and lived there until his death three years later (The House and Gardens of Blackhurst). His wife remained in residence until her death in 1892, when Arthur Ward sold the property to a Frederick Frank.
By 1909 Frank had built a west wing onto the house on the site of a former conservatory (3rd edn OS map) and made changes to the internal layout. He also planted a woodland area with a sunken garden c.60m south-west of the house and a grass, yew-lined staircase on the east side of the kitchen garden (3rd edn map, Kent Compendium). When Frank died in 1915, the Blackhurst Estate was inherited by his sons Robert and Sir Howard, the latter a founding partner of the estate agents Frank, Knight and Rutley. Blackhurst served as a Voluntary Aid Detachment Hospital during World War One but in 1917 was offered for sale with 68h as ‘one of the most attractive properties of its area and character … [with] a beautiful miniature park, admirably arranged grounds and a productive kitchen garden’ (1917 Sales Particulars). Two watercolour paintings by the artist Ernest Arthur Rowe depict the house and the rose pergola about this time.
The property was bought by a Thomas Bolton who extended the house, built a retaining wall with a tennis lawn at its foot, repositioned the ha-ha and, during the 1920s, laid out new features in the garden, including a rockery, with the assistance of various gardeners, including Herbert Maxwell, Henry Lazell, Mr Dane and Mr Broom (The House and Gardens of Blackhurst). When Mr Bolton died in 1937, Blackhurst was sold to the architect and land speculator Alfred M. Cawthorne who let it to a tobacco company during World War Two.
In 1944 the property was bought by Kent County Council then transferred to the Ministry of Health which ran it as a preliminary nurses’ training school from 1949-69, after which it was converted to accommodation for Tunbridge Wells’ National Health Authority staff (Civic Society Newsletter). During this period the ornamental gardens were well maintained (1981/82 photographs), though the kitchen garden was neglected.
In 1994 the newly formed Weald of Kent Community National Health Service Trust (previously the Tunbridge Wells Health Authority Community Unit) refurbished Blackhurst as its headquarters. Renovation took place under the supervision of The Lawrence Hewitt Partnership and John Mowlem Construction but the gardens were excluded from the works and became neglected (Kent Compendium). In 1995, the Blackhurst Conservation Group embarked on a programme of restoration of garden features including the original paths, a grotto, lily pond and Japanese garden and the gardens were open under the National Gardens Scheme from 1995 until 1998 when the property, with 0.14h of the adjoining ornamental gardens, was bought for development in 1998 (The House and Gardens of Blackhurst). Two estate cottages, a lodge, the parkland and farmland were sold separately.
In 2004 Blackhurst house, the stable block and adjoining garden was restyled and sold as a gated development comprising with four separate dwellings: Eaton House, Blackhurst Hall and The Grange were formed from the house itself with the fourth comprising the C19, single-storey stable block, renamed The Old Courtyard. The whole property, known as Blackhurst Park, remains in communal private ownership." (1)

In 2020 an heritage statement was prepared in to support the proposed development of a new detached dwelling within the gardens. (2)

<1> Barbara Simms, 2009, The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Tunbridge Wells Borough:Blackhurst Park (Unpublished document). SKE16074.

<2> Bethan May Watson, 2020, Blackhurst Park Walled Garden, Heritage Statement (Unpublished document). SKE58121.