Recognising Tonbridge Recognised

The stained glass window was eventually recognised by one person, who sent me a text message telling me that they were actually standing under it.  It is one of two situated on the either side of the porchway leading to the Mansion House which adjoins The Castle.

The Mansion House

 

The building can easily be overlooked and is mostly unnoticed on the Cannon Lawn side as it is dwarfed by the Castle itself, but the building has its own history.  It was built under the instruction of Thomas Hooker in 1791, the then owner, and what we find today is in fact the original building, including the 18th century stained glass windows.  There is a similar window at Igtham Mote which is dated 10 years later, and one could assume that the same craftsman made both windows.

The property was a military academy in the late 1800's and later C.J.M. Warton transferred his Bordyke House School to the site and the boys prep school flourished here until 1897.  It was in this year that the site was offered for sale to the council for the sum of £10,000, and whole castle site became the property of Tonbridge.

To see a photograph of the Mansion House in during the 1910 election announcement click the link
http://www.tonbridgehistory.org.uk/photos/elections/slides/21.004.html