From the report:

" Until the late C12, Brenchley (at that time known variously as Braencesli, Braencheslie, Brancheslega, Branchesle and Btaencesle) was within the parish of Eldyrige (later known as Yalding) and probably originated as a clearing in the ancient Wealden oak forest (Barr). It then became an independent parish with its own rectory but was forfeited to the crown in 1526, after which it became the property of Cardinal Wolsey. In 1539, after Wolsey’s downfall, Henry VIII gave it to Paul Sydnor for his services as agent to the Court of Spain (Hasted) and he may have built the first house on the site of present Brenchley Manor.
In 1563 the rectory of Brenchley became the property of William Waller of Groombridge. His widow, Elizabeth, inherited it on his death, although did not live in it until her second husband, George Vane, died in 1571. She lived there until 1596, dispensing a ‘memorable hospitalitie [which] made her famous and renowned’, during which time she refurbished the house internally and added a Renaissance gateway (Oswald). Elizabeth’s son by her first marriage inherited the property and it remained in the Waller family until the mid C17 when it was sold to John Courthope of Whiligh whose family retained it until the beginning of the C20.
Maps from 1769 depict the building on the site of the present Brenchley Manor as a parsonage (Andrews, Dury and Herbert; Hasted; Mudge; Greenwood) and the Tithe Map records the property called Parsonage Farm as owned by George Campion Courthope (of the Courthopes of Sprivers). It was occupied by an Edward Monkton, a cattle dealer, who was in residence in 1839 (Pigot). At that time, the 12ha site comprised a parsonage and garden, an oast house, barn and lodge, an orchard and hop garden, a larch plantation and a number of fields. Monckton, and later his family, were still at Parsonage Farm (variously Parsonage, The Parsonage and Parsonage House) in 1861, when his holding had expanded to some 56ha. The 1st edn OS map shows paths laid out in a garden close to the house and the remaining land occupied by farm buildings and orchards.
Until 1912 the Parsonage remained tenanted, first by Charles Storr, a curate, and then George Levett, a farmer (Census data), during which time a conservatory and two greenhouses were built and changes were made to the
garden layout (2nd and 3rd OS maps). The Courthopes then sold the Parsonage to a Mr. C. H. Allfrey, who ‘stripped the plaster off the house, revealing the timbers’, added a wing to its south end and laid out a new garden. The property had several further owners before it was offered for sale as The Old Parsonage in 1931 with some 10ha of land. It was bought by the Payne family who renamed it Brenchley Manor (Times advertisement). They continued the development of the gardens before selling in 1968 with just 3ha of gardens, these including a swimming pool, a cottage, orchards, and ‘a gigantic oak’ (Hanson; Sales Particulars).
The owners in 1972 were a Richard and Isobel Gardiner-Hill who inherited and maintained Mr Allfrey’s framework of garden walks and clipped hedges, herbaceous borders, orchard and kitchen garden, with guidance from the garden designer Rosemary Alexander (Compendium notes). The present owners bought Brenchley Manor in 1989 and have continued to maintain and develop the gardens and grounds with advice from the designer Tim Rees. The property remains in single, private ownership." (1)

<1> Barbara Simms, 2009, The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Tunbridge Wells Borough:Brenchley Manor (Unpublished document). SKE16076.