The house passed through descent to Barons Oranmore and Browne whose family seat it became. It was sold in 1930 [7] and used as a prisoner of war camp during World War II.[8] In the 1950s and 1960s it was owned by artist Michael Lambert Tree (1921–1999[9]), a son of Ronald Tree and an heir to the Marshall Field mercantile fortune, and his wife, Lady Anne Cavendish, daughter of the 10th Duke of Devonshire. Tree inherited the house from his uncle, Peter Beatty, who died on 26 October 1949.[10]
The Wateringbury Stream passes through the grounds of the castle. It powered a fulling mill at the eastern end of the castle grounds.[11][12]
Mereworth Castle is owned by Mahdi Al-Tajir, the former United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United Kingdom and owner of the Highland Spring bottled water company,[13] who purchased it in 1976 for $1.2 million.[14] It is not generally accessible to the public, but does open on rare occasions for guided tours.
^Historic England. "Mereworth Castle (main block) with moat walls to north, Maidstone Road (south side), Mereworth, Tonbridge and Malling, Kent (1070675)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 May 2008. This source attributes the plasterwork to Francesco Bagutti, but Giovanni Bagutti would appear to be more likely.
^Edward Hasted, 'Parishes: Mereworth', in The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 5 (Canterbury, 1798), pp. 70-90 [1]
^"The Peerage". The Peerage. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
^Historic England. "Pavilion to the North East of Mereworth Castle, Maidstone Road (south side), MEREWORTH, Tonbridge and Malling, Kent (1363025)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
^Historic England. "Pavilion to the North West and Stables of Mereworth Castle, Maidstone Road (south side), MEREWORTH, Tonbridge and Malling, Kent (1070676)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
^Lord Oranmore and Browne's obituary Telegraph
^"Island farm". Islandfarm.fsnet.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
^Colpus, Eve (2015). "Tree , Lady Anne Evelyn Beatrice (1927–2010)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/103305. ISBN 9780198614111. Retrieved 21 March 2015. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^"British tax may topple castle of a Field heir". Chicago Tribune. 20 June 1952.
^Watermills of the East Malling and Wateringbury Streams, Part 2, Chapter 1
^Watermills (Kent and the Borders of Sussex) p134.
^"Sunday Times Rich List 2010: Britain's richest see wealth rise by one third". The Daily Telegraph. 24 April 2010.
^"BRITAIN: Dinner for 370,000, Please, James". TIME. 2 August 1976. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
Sources
Stutchbury, Howard, The Architecture of Colin Campbell, Harvard University Press, 1967, 54–58. ISBN 0-674-04400-2
Harris, John, The Palladians, Trefoil Publications Ltd, 1981, 66–67. ISBN 0-86294-000-1
Country Life, XLVII, 808,876,912; XCV, 242; CIV,728; CXVI, 209
Fuller, Michael (1980). The Watermills of the East Malling and Wateringbury Streams. Maidstone: Christine Swift.
Fuller & Spain (1986). Watermills (Kent and the Borders of Sussex). Maidstone: Kent Archaeological Society. p. 134. ISBN 0-906746-08-6.
External links
The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses