Walking to Lodge House from The King’s Head — 4.8-Mile Circular via Smeeth
Lodge House — a Grade II* listed building 4.8 miles from The King's Head, Wye.
Lodge House is a timber-framed in Smeeth, 4.8 miles from The King’s Head. The NHLE entry singles out its hall-house. Historic England listed it in 1988.
Walking to Lodge House — 4.8 miles from Wye
Rated Challenging at 4.8 miles with about 80m of ascent. Allow around 193 minutes at a steady 3 mph pace; add 15–20 minutes for photographs at the building and a pause at a viewpoint.
Why Lodge House is Grade II* listed — the 1988 designation
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- Grade:
- II*
- Listed:
- 1988
- Parish:
- Smeeth
- District:
- Ashford
- Statutory address:
- Lodge House, Plain Road
- NHLE entry:
- 1185326 ↗
TR 03 NE SMEETH PLAIN ROAD (south side) 4/132 Lodge House II* House. Circa 1500 and extended C17 and late C18 and 1920’s. Timber framed and clad with galletted ragstone and red and blue brick and extended with timber frame with red brick and mathematical tiling. Plain tiled roof. Wealden plan, now completely enclosed by later cladding and extensions. Main elevation: C18, with mathematical tiling and red brick. Two storeys with boxed eaves to hipped roof with stacks to left and to rear right. Regular fenestration of 2 glazing bar sashes and central round headed glazing bar sash on 1st floor, and 2 glazing bar sashes with cambered heads on ground floor. Central glazed door with delicately traceried semi-circular fanlight in panelled surround, with pilasters and cornice. Return elevations rendered, with canted oriel on 1st floor to right. Rear wing to left return early C18 red and blue brick on ragstone, with 2 glazing bar sashes and 2 blank window spaces on 1st floor and 2 wooden casements, glazed door on ground floor. Right rear wing galletted ragstone with dentil eaves cornice and segmentally headed window openings, with C20 panelled door and porch. Tile hung 2 storey hipped C20 range to rear. Interior: the core of the building is a complete Wealden hall house, with full frame visible, with dragon beams, dais beam and crown posts (moulded with lobed bases) on steeply cambered tie beams, that to Hall chamfered, with smoke blackened rafters. This section of the house also contains extensive early C17 wainscotting, with beaded surrounds, said to have come from Scott’s Hall (in the park of which this was indeed the Lodge House). Also a painted fireplace, with heavy bead moulding to four centred arch, with shields in spandrels. C18 wing with simple fielded panelling with moulded dado rail, and dog leg and landing stair with ramped handrail and stick balusters. A fine example of a building “displaying the characteristics of its own development”, with quality work throughout in the whole range of materials available in East Kent. Listing NGR: TR0852039673
Listing metadata — from the National Heritage List for England
- NHLE entry number:
- 1185326
- Heritage Category / Grade:
- Listed Building, Grade II*
- First listed:
- 1988
- Capture scale:
- 1:2500
- Grid reference (NGR):
- TR 08520 39673
- BNG Easting / Northing:
- 608,520 E / 139,673 N
- Coordinates (WGS84):
- 51.118389°N, 0.978095°E
- Parish:
- Smeeth
- District:
- Ashford
- Kent Downs landscape zone:
- Brook and the Spring-Line Villages
- Distance to North Downs Way:
- 4.74 miles
- Distance from The King's Head:
- 4.82 miles
- Walk duration (round trip):
- 193 minutes
- Elevation gain:
- 80 m
- Difficulty rating:
- Challenging
Architectural features at Lodge House
Keywords extracted from Historic England’s Official List Entry — each one is genuinely in the designation prose, not inferred.
Buildings listed in the 1980s near Wye
| Listing | Grade | Parish | Distance from Wye | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade I Heritage Walk: Walking to Barn With Sheds About 50 Metres West Of Court Lodge from The King’s Head — 1.7-Mile Easy Stroll via Brook | Grade I | Brook | 1.7 miles | 1989 |
| Walking to Troy Town House And Wall from The King’s Head — 1.8-Mile Easy Stroll via Brook | Grade II* | Brook | 1.8 miles | 1988 |
| Grade I Heritage Walk: Walking to Church Of St Mary from The King’s Head — 3.2-Mile Circular via Hastingleigh | Grade I | Hastingleigh | 3.2 miles | 1989 |
| Walking to Laurenden Forstal Nine Chimneys from The King’s Head — 3.6-Mile Circular via Challock | Grade II* | Challock | 3.6 miles | 1984 |
| Walking to Handville Green from The King’s Head — 3.7-Mile Circular via North Downs Way | Grade II* | Waltham | 3.7 miles | 1980 |
The landscape around Lodge House — Brook and the Spring-Line Villages
South of the North Downs escarpment, the land around Brook and the adjacent parishes is a quiet band of spring-line settlement where chalk meets gault clay. The villages grew where water came to the surface, and each church in this belt — many Grade I listed and of Norman or earlier origin — occupies one of those spring-heads. Between them the land is a patchwork of sheep pasture, small fields of winter cereals, and hedgerow-enclosed paddocks of yew, hawthorn and blackthorn. The combination of intact medieval churches, surviving ancient hedgerows, and the dramatic backdrop of the downs above is a landscape character that has scarcely changed in 400 years.
Pubs within 3 miles of Lodge House
| Pub | Distance from route | Address | Postcode | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Five Bells open_in_new | 2.2 miles | The Street, Brabourne, TN25 5LP | TN25 5LP | Ashford |
| The Honest Miller open_in_new | 2.8 miles | Brook, Ashford, TN25 5PF | TN25 5PF | Ashford |
Plan your visit
Every walk on this site starts and finishes at The King’s Head — Bridge Street, Wye, TN25 5EA.
Frequently asked about Lodge House
How far is Lodge House from The King's Head?
Heritage data © Historic England NHLE · Trail & landscape data © Natural England (Open Government Licence) · Pub locations published under the Open Government Licence.