Knole was a medieval manor house

 Knole has a rich history predating its acquisition by the Sackville family. In the early fifteenth century, it was a medieval manor house, fragments of which still exist in the south-east corner of the present house where the current family lives.

Archbishop Thomas Bourchier acquired the manor of Knole in 1456 from Sir William Fiennes, Lord Saye and Sele, for £266 13s. 4d. He was responsible for building a massive gatehouse, known as Bourchier’s Tower, at the west end of the house, which opened onto the Stone Court. On the far side of this court stood the Great Hall and Bourchier’s reception rooms in the great chamber block. Bourchier also incorporated elements of the earlier house around the Water Court, where his kitchen, offices, service areas were on the north side, and his private apartments and chapel were on the south side. Therefore, the area where the Sackville family now resides was once the heart of an archbishop’s palace.

Bourchier died at Knole in 1486 and bequeathed the house to the see of Canterbury. His successors as Archbishop, John Morton and William Warham, further enlarged and improved the building. They added another external layer to the western side, creating the Green Court and a new main entrance. Rooms for the Archbishop’s retinue were built around the Green Court, each with individual stairways, similar to an Oxbridge college quadrangle. They also added a range to the east, beside the chapel, connected to the Great Hall by galleries, which helped the sprawling house coalesce and provided a processional space between public and private rooms.

In 1538, Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury at the time, was compelled to give Knole to King Henry VIII. Henry VIII, who acquired sixty royal residences by his death, did not spend much time or money at Knole. However, his daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, visited Knole in 1573 during a royal progress and likely stayed in what is now the current family's bedroom.

The story of the Sackvilles and Knole begins with Thomas Sackville. He acquired Knole in 1604 and extensively remodelled it from a draughty medieval mansion into a Renaissance palace, a "great show house to celebrate his success". His Sackville successors continued to add to the house, using it to display Stuart furniture acquired as cast-offs from royal palaces and later Old Master paintings bought on Grand Tours. Thomas Sackville, the first of the family to live at Knole, chose to be buried at Withyham in Sussex, near his birthplace of Buckhurst. With only one exception, every incumbent of Knole from Thomas Sackville to the 4th Lord Sackville in the 1960s followed this tradition, making the journey from Knole to Withyham for their burial.

Thomas Sackville directed in his will that Knole should be passed down from ‘heir male to heir male’ in perpetuity, following the principle of primogeniture common in English aristocratic families. This principle has shaped the inheritance of Knole through generations, often creating complex family dynamics. Over the past 200 years, there has been only one direct father-son succession at Knole, leading to a recurring theme of disappointment and disinheritance within the family. Lady Anne Clifford, who lived at Knole in the early seventeenth century as the wife of Richard Sackville, the 3rd Earl of Dorset, felt disinherited from both her father's and her husband's estates. Three centuries later, Vita Sackville-West also felt barred from inheriting Knole due to her gender. She recognized the pressures the inheritance placed on both its heirs and the disinherited, a theme she explored in her novel The Edwardians.

Richard Sackville, the 3rd Earl of Dorset (1608–1624), and his wife, Lady Anne Clifford, experienced the contrasting nature of Knole, from its sombre winter appearance to its lively summer facade. Lady Anne's diaries provide a significant source of information about this period. The succession often shifted sideways, with feelings of bitterness from those disinherited, a sentiment echoed by Vita Sackville-West’s mother, Victoria, much later.

During the English Civil War, Knole was invaded by Parliamentarian forces around 1642, and in 1643, the Central Committee for Kent was based at Knole, using its outbuildings as a prison and grounds as a magazine. The house, acquired and refurbished by Thomas Sackville, was occupied by an opposing force, highlighting the fragility of a family's hold on its inheritance.

After the death of the 4th Earl in 1652, the Sackville inheritance was burdened with debt. Knole itself was owned by the executors of Henry ‘Dog’ Smith, who had purchased it from the 3rd Earl and leased it back to the Sackvilles. The 5th Earl, Richard Sackville (1652–1677), faced a precarious claim on Knole due to his father's debts. However, with the restoration of King Charles II in 1660, the ownership of Knole was resolved, and it was settled upon the Earl of Dorset and his heirs. Account books from this period offer insights into daily life at Knole. Richard and his wife Frances had thirteen children, and their family life brought a "warm glow" to Knole.

Charles Sackville, the 6th Earl of Dorset (who inherited in 1677 and died in 1706), established Knole as a seat of patronage, fostering literary associations. He was known for his wit and his connections to the Restoration court, acquiring significant pieces of furniture from royal sources. Myths and anecdotes, such as the poetry competition judged by Dryden, became associated with his time at Knole. Despite the "rich pickings of public office," Dorset was often in debt. He also had several illegitimate children, who joined the ranks of the disinherited.

Lionel Sackville, the 7th Earl of Dorset and 1st Duke of Dorset (1688-1765), further enhanced Knole, reflecting the consolidation of aristocratic power in the eighteenth century. He held prominent political offices and spent conspicuously on the mansion and its grounds. Despite occasional troublesome sons, the estate remained intact during his long ownership. Knole became known for its grand scale and the "great hospitality" offered by its owners.

John Frederick Sackville, the 3rd Duke of Dorset (1769-1799), continued to restore and improve Knole, including redecorating rooms and replanting the park. He also maintained the tradition of house parties. However, the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries saw shifts in the family's fortunes and the beginning of a more tenuous connection between the Sackville name and Knole.

In the 19th century, despite the theory of male primogeniture, Knole was often owned and run by women whose married names were not Sackville. Guidebooks began to play a significant role in establishing Knole's identity in the popular imagination, often emphasizing its ancient and venerable nature and creating enduring myths. The house captured the Victorian imagination as a preserved relic of "the Olden Times," a vision furthered by Joseph Nash's drawings of Knole's interiors. The Sackville name faced near extinction, leading to the adoption of double surnames like Sackville-West to maintain the family connection. The division of the family estates in the mid-19th century resulted in Knole becoming the junior inheritance. Mortimer Sackville-West, the 2nd Lord Sackville (owner from 1873-1888), controversially closed Knole to the general public for a period due to perceived vandalism.

Lionel Sackville-West, the 3rd Lord Sackville (later the 2nd Baron Sackville) inherited Knole in 1888. His daughter, Victoria, married her cousin, another Lionel Sackville-West, heir to Knole, thereby becoming mistress of the house and seemingly securing her position. By the turn of the century, Knole was a lavish setting for weekend house parties, but this opulence masked underlying financial pressures and ongoing inheritance lawsuits, particularly concerning the legitimacy of Lionel's children with Pepita Duran. The legal battles over the Knole inheritance continued until 1910.

Vita Sackville-West, despite her deep connection to Knole and her literary depictions of it in works like Orlando and The Edwardians, was excluded from inheriting due to her gender. The title and house passed to her father's younger brother, Charles Sackville-West, the 4th Baron Sackville, in 1928. Faced with the financial burdens of maintaining Knole in a changing world, he was forced to sell heirlooms. In 1946, the Sackville family finally handed Knole over to the National Trust under the Country Houses Scheme, with an endowment for its maintenance. The family retained possession of the park and private apartments within the house on a long lease.

Since 1947, Knole has been open to the public under the National Trust's ownership. The relationship between the resident Sackville family and the National Trust has evolved, with both parties working together to preserve and present Knole. The current author, Robert Sackville-West, is part of the family that continues to live in a wing of Knole, marking over 400 years of Sackville presence. Knole stands as a testament to the history of a single family and the changing fortunes of the English country house.

Sevenoaks

Knole maintained a significant relationship with the town of Sevenoaks. This relationship encompassed social, economic, and at times, contentious aspects.

• Education in Sevenoaks: John Frederick Sackville, the 3rd Duke of Dorset's illegitimate son, attended school in Sevenoaks after his mother, La Baccelli, left Knole. This demonstrates a direct connection between the Knole household and the educational institutions within the town.

• Public Access and Amenity: Sevenoaks residents greatly valued Knole Park as a public amenity. By the 1880s, with improved railway connections from London, Sevenoaks became a popular destination, and the park was a key attraction for day-trippers, benefiting local trade. The inhabitants of Sevenoaks regularly strolled in the park, and those from neighbouring villages used it as a route to the town for shopping.

• Community Resistance and Rights of Way: When Mortimer, the 1st Lord Sackville, attempted to close Knole Park in the 1880s, it sparked considerable opposition from the people of Sevenoaks. A protest meeting was held in Sevenoaks, and the Sevenoaks Local Board voiced concerns on behalf of the ratepayers. The dispute highlighted the community's strong sense of connection to the park and their perceived right of access, rooted in historic usage. The eventual compromise allowed pedestrians to continue using the footpaths.

• Public Celebrations: The return of Lionel Sackville-West and his wife Victoria to Knole in 1910, following a legal victory, was marked by public celebrations in Sevenoaks. They rode through the town in a horse-drawn victoria, and a triumphal arch was erected to welcome them home. This illustrates that events concerning the Sackville family and Knole had a public dimension that involved the town of Sevenoaks.

• Law Enforcement and Public Order: During the Knole Park access dispute, Mortimer sought an increased police presence in Sevenoaks to manage the protests. This demonstrates the involvement of Sevenoaks' local authorities in maintaining order related to events at Knole.

These instances collectively illustrate a dynamic relationship between Knole and the town of Sevenoaks, characterised by shared use of the park, educational connections, community engagement, and occasional conflict over access and rights of way.

Primogeniture

Those family members who did not inherit Knole or reside permanently in the main house – including daughters, younger sons, widows, and illegitimate children – often experienced mixed and complex emotions towards the estate.

• Daughters and the Principle of Primogeniture: The strict principle of primogeniture, which dictated that Knole should pass from ‘heir male to heir male’, meant that daughters were typically excluded from inheriting the estate. This led to feelings of disappointment and disinheritance, as seen in the diaries of Lady Anne Clifford in the early seventeenth century. Anne felt doubly disinherited, excluded from both her father’s Clifford estates and her husband’s Sackville estates. Three hundred years later, Vita Sackville-West also felt barred from Knole due to her gender, echoing similar resentments in her writings. Despite this, Vita also recognised the pressures Knole imposed on its male heirs. Even those women who lived at Knole as wives sometimes felt a sense of not truly owning the place and that their efforts in managing the household were ultimately for naught, as seen with Vita's mother, Victoria.

• Younger Sons: The experiences of younger sons appear to have been varied. In the nineteenth century, the division of the Sackville estates led to Knole becoming the junior inheritance, passing to younger sons. While some might have resided at Knole, others, like those who inherited Buckhurst, may have felt they received a less significant portion of the family's legacy at the time. There are also instances where younger sons faced financial difficulties and had to rely on other family members for support.

• Widows: Widows living at Knole, such as Victoria, the Dowager Lady Sackville, after her husband's death, could experience a range of emotions. While they might retain a presence in the house, their position could shift, and they might feel the weight of the past and the uncertainty of their future within the family seat. Victoria's eventual departure from Knole was marked by exasperation, hurt, and humiliation.

• Illegitimate Children: The illegitimate children of the Sackvilles often faced disinheritance and social exclusion. John Frederick, the 3rd Duke's illegitimate son, lived at Knole for a time but ultimately died far from the ducal home, a "doubly illegitimate, inconvenient and disinherited son". Vita's grandfather, Old Lionel, had a secret family in France, and his illegitimate children, including Victoria, experienced social stigma and displacement. While Victoria eventually came to live at Knole upon her father's inheritance, her initial experiences of illegitimacy were deeply impactful. Some illegitimate family members, like Amalia, felt like prisoners at Knole and harboured bitterness towards those who were more securely positioned within the family.

Overall, those not in the direct male line of inheritance often had a tangible sense of being on the periphery of Knole's legacy. They could feel excluded, disappointed, or even resentful towards the house and those who possessed it. While some found a temporary home or connection to Knole, the prevailing system of inheritance often created complex family dynamics and emotional undercurrents for those who were not the designated heirs. The very allure of Knole, with its promise of ancestral belonging, could be a source of pain for those who were denied it.

The cost of keeping Knole

The cost of keeping Knole over the centuries, highlighting the significant financial burden it often represented for its owners.

• Early Periods: Thomas Sackville's extensive building programme in the early 17th century involved substantial expenditure. While a precise total cost isn't given, surviving accounts from a ten-month window in 1607-1608 itemise £4,107 11s. 9d. spent on building works and materials, suggesting a much larger overall investment between 1605 and 1608.

• Post-Civil War Era: By the mid-17th century, during Richard Sackville, the 5th Earl's time, Knole was described as a "working estate, slightly rough around the edges". The relative impecuniousness of the Sackvilles after the Civil War meant the park had to be farmed for profit. Account books from 1652 to 1677 reveal expenditure on basic upkeep like linen, livery for servants, and repairs. Legal costs from the Earl's many disputes, particularly concerning the ownership of Knole, were also "very greate".

• Late 17th Century Hospitality: Charles Sackville, the 6th Earl of Dorset, was known for his lavish hospitality at Knole. Household accounts from a single day in September 1696 itemise an enormous quantity of food consumed, illustrating the considerable expense of entertaining on such a scale. Despite the "rich pickings of public office," Dorset was in debt throughout the 1690s and in arrears with his servants' wages.

• 18th Century Opulence: While the 1st Duke of Dorset benefited from increased efficiency on his estates, spending on the park and mansion remained a visible sign of wealth. Lavish parties at Christmas and other celebrations also contributed to the cost of maintaining Knole's status.

• 19th Century Financial Strain: By the late 19th century, the agricultural depression significantly impacted the Sackville estates, reducing land rents and values. The income from Mortimer Sackville's estates in 1883 (£11,250 a year) was considered relatively modest for maintaining a house like Knole. The cost of wages, repairs, internal decoration, and Lady Sackville's housekeeping and entertainment added to the financial burden, estimated at around £3,000 a year for the latter.

• Early 20th Century and the Threat of Taxes: In the early 20th century, the income from the estate (£13,000) was perhaps a third of what was needed to support Knole. New taxes like death duties, introduced in 1894, posed a significant threat to the financial viability of maintaining large estates. Victoria, Lady Sackville, even lobbied the Chancellor of the Exchequer for exemptions on artworks to save Knole from being forced to sell its collection to pay these duties.

• The Interwar Period: The period between the First and Second World Wars was particularly difficult for country houses. By the end of the First World War, income tax, land tax, and rates accounted for around 30 percent of a landed estate's income, and death duties rose significantly. In 1921, Knole was even advertised for rent, indicating the perceived unsustainability of private ownership.

• The Second World War and Beyond: The Second World War further exacerbated the financial pressures due to rising taxes. The 4th Lord Sackville, Charlie, expressed fears that it would be the end for houses like Knole due to the combined impact of income tax and death duties making it impossible to cover wage bills and maintenance.

• The Handover to the National Trust: Ultimately, in 1946, the Sackville family handed Knole over to the National Trust due to the increasing financial burden of maintaining the property. Even then, the house was in a state of disrepair due to neglect, requiring significant investment for cleaning and restoration. Since taking ownership, the National Trust has spent over £3 million on the house and its contents, with government grants contributing millions more for structural repairs.

In summary, the cost of keeping Knole has been a recurring challenge for the Sackville family throughout its history. Factors such as large-scale building projects, lavish lifestyles, economic downturns, and increasingly heavy taxation have all contributed to the substantial financial demands of maintaining such a grand and historic house. The eventual transfer to the National Trust highlights the difficulties faced by private owners in preserving these large estates in the modern era.

Amusing tidbits

Amusing tidbits that offer a glimpse into the lives of the Sackville family and the unique atmosphere of Knole. Here are a few fun examples:

• A Rocking Horse's Role in Near Extinction: The rocking horse belonging to the 4th Duke is mentioned, and it's revealed that his death at fifteen – his spine crushed by a falling horse in a hunting accident – brought the name of Sackville to the verge of extinction. This juxtaposition of a childhood toy with a serious event is quite striking.

• Virginia Woolf's Lunch Observation: Virginia Woolf's description of lunching at Knole is wonderfully quirky: ‘His lordship lives in the kernel of a vast nut. You perambulate miles of galleries; skip endless treasures . . . & penetrate at length to a round shiny table with a cover laid for one’. This vividly captures the immense scale of Knole and the almost isolated existence of its owner within it.

• The Obsession with Keys: The Sackville family's multi-generational obsession with hoarding keys is a particularly charming and relatable quirk. The belief that a rusty, unidentified key ‘might one day unlock no one knows which room, which chest or which moment in the house’s secret history’ paints a picture of a family deeply connected to their history and the mysteries of their home. The panic caused by the mere mention of a lost key adds a touch of humour.

• Servants' Fines for Misdemeanours: Richard Sackville's meticulous record-keeping included fining his servants for various ‘misdemeanours’, some of which are quite amusing: ‘for scolding to extreamity’, ‘for prating impertinently’, ‘for prating nonsence’, ‘for giving advice unasked’, ‘for telling tales out of schoole’, and even ‘for lying at dinner time’ and ‘for lying to my face’. These entries offer a funny, if somewhat strict, insight into household management.

• Restoration Revelry: The escapades of Charles Sackville (later the 6th Earl of Dorset) and his companions, such as dining with naked women and then engaging in lewd behaviour on a balcony, are certainly colourful, if scandalous. Rochester's act of smashing the King’s sundial with the exclamation, ‘What, does thou stand here to fuck time?’ adds a particularly outrageous and witty moment.

• A Winningly Lazy Poem: Charles Sackville's winning entry in a poetry competition judged by Dryden was simply: ‘I promise to pay Mr John Dryden five hundred pounds on demand. Signed, Dorset [Charles]’. Dryden's supposed witty praise of its style and subject matter is an amusing anecdote about the nature of wit and patronage.

• Swift's Pursuit of Church Appointments: Jonathan Swift's attempts to pester the Duke of Dorset for Church appointments for his friends, and his potential displeasure when these were not forthcoming, offer a light-hearted glimpse into the social and political manoeuvring of the time.

• A Cricket-Playing Ballerina: The image of the Italian ballerina Madame Baccelli playing cricket in the gardens at Knole with her illegitimate son in the 1780s, as recalled by a payment record, is a charmingly unexpected scene of domestic intimacy.

• Lord Sackville's Eccentric Reading Habits: The description of Lord Sackville (Eddy's father, Charlie) immersing himself for hours in Gibbon's Decline and Fall or the works of Josephus, only to remark ‘Good book, that’ without variation, reveals a wonderfully peculiar habit.

• Vita's Childhood Fierceness: Vita Sackville-West's rather aggressive games with visiting children, where she and a boy tied them to trees, stuffed their nostrils with putty, and thrashed their legs with nettles, are recounted with a somewhat alarming, yet darkly humorous, tone.

• Lionel's Unconventional Good Humour During Wartime: Lionel Sackville-West's letters from the First World War, which could juxtapose descriptions of the grim realities of war with the pleasures of quail shooting or bathing in the Suez Canal, reveal a somewhat detached and perhaps darkly humorous outlook. His arrangements for his mistress Olive to sing for his troops and his requests to Vita for Christmas presents for her add another layer of unconventionality.

These are just some of the interesting and sometimes funny details that pepper the narrative, bringing the history of Knole and the Sackville family to life.