History, tourist information, and nearby accommodation
The Historic House
The picturesque museum building was built around 1480 as a home for the bailiff of Rectory Farm, which was owned by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The bailiff's home
History, tourist information, and nearby accommodation
The Historic House
The picturesque museum building was built around 1480 as a home for the bailiff of Rectory Farm, which was owned by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The bailiff's home took the form of a traditional hall house. Original medieval features include moulded timber posts and a beam carved with the likeness of a dragon. The house was later rented out to tenants. One 16th-century tenant was Richard Taylor, a wealthy clothier.
Shortly after 1620, the medieval hall house was rebuilt. Two chimney stacks were inserted, each with an inglenook fireplace. The building was in use as a vicarage throughout the 17th century. One resident was Rev Charles Buck, the vicar of Cranbrook. In 1683 Rev Buck added brick facing on the north and west sides of the house The date is inscribed in the exterior plasterwork.
In the Victorian period, the house was divided into four separate cottages. In the 20th century, the house was acquired by the Cranbrook Rural District Council, and in 1971 the Council made one of the cottages available to the Cranbrook Museum & Local History Society to act as its museum. Over the following 24 years, the museum expanded into the other cottages as tenants left until in 1995 the whole building was restored and given over to 