Rose Hill was a large house that stood above what is now Grove Park. Buildings are shown on the site on the OS drawing of 1797. They are both coloured black, usually indicating unoccupied or agricultural buildings, but elsewhere in the county also indicating alterations to the maps made in the early 1800s. The wider site is shown as orchard or woodland. The site appears to have been accessed via a tree lined avenue to the west. On the Tithe Map of 1840 the building is shown as consisting of an occupied block with two bowed bays to the east. This building could be that shown on the earlier map. A wing extended west from this forming a courtyard to the northwest with three unoccupied buildings on the other sides. A second driveway to the east, forming a U-shaped loop off of the London Road to the south, had been added by this date. The land enclosed by this loop and to the south of the house was recorded as Road Field in the Apportionment Register. The property is recorded as House Lawn Stable Yard and Garden, with large areas of shrubbery around the boundaries and within Road Field. The owner is given as Rev George Simpson and the occupier as William Augustus Munn. The property is largely unchanged by the time of the 1st edition 25" OS map of the area, the 1860s/70s, apart from a structure which had been built against the northernmost boundary of the property. There are no major changes to the property visible on the 2nd or 3rd editions of the OS mapping. The area was not covered by the 4th edition in the early to mid-20th century but also appears as in earlier mapping on aerial photographs of 1946.

A watercolour of 1838 shows Rose Hill as a thatched building with two rounded bays on what must have been the east side of the building. The occupancy of Rose Hill, from the 1830s onwards has been detailed. The house was derelict by 1975 and was demolished shortly thereafter. (1)

Known as Gore Hill until c.1822, thereafter Rose Hill “TNA ref: Prob 11/1658 image ref 214”.

<1> John Clancy, 2013, The History and Occupancy of Rose Hill, The Grove, Key Street, Sittingbourne (Unpublished document). SKE25227.