Sitting in the north of the parish of Brenchley and Matfield, close to its border with Paddock Wood lies Moatlands, a property with a long and varied history. It is believed that a house was built at Moatlands in about 1524 during the reign of Henry V111 although there is some evidence to suggest there was a house called Le Moat in Brenchley at least a hundred years prior to that.

According to Kent County Council the original property was demolished and replaced by a 19th century gothic castellated house which is what we seem to see today. During excavation work in 1860 an old oak drawbridge was found when the moat was cleared out.

At the time of the 1861 census John M(arshall) Hooker an architect aged 30, was living at Moatlands. Living with him was his older sister Clara and a servant. Contemporary newspaper reports say that John was a grower of the Brenchley Prolific hop which in August 1861 was reported as the first pocket(sack of hops) of the new season to arrive in London.

In January 1865 livestock including three cart horses, a beautiful brown NAG GELDING, a roan pony, donkey and four milch cows as well as an Alderney cow were put up for sale due to the Estate being sold. Also up for sale were farm implements including those for the hop gardens and stock from the brickyard which included bricks, drain pipes and tiles.

This was followed shortly after, in February 1865, by the sale of the contents of the house including furniture, carpets, beds, bedding, curtains and much more. John Hooker had married in October 1861 and he and his growing young family were moving to Sevenoaks.

Ownership of the property transferred to John Roberto Thomson and by 1866 he was living at Moatlands with his wife Elizabeth and their daughter Florence. The 1871 census describes him as a barrister at law born in London with his wife being born in Bruges. Contemporary reports show that hops were still being grown on the estate during this era.

In 1878 the property was put up for sale. The description of the property was as follows:

“…..a capital residence approached from the high road by carriage drive through a small but beautifully timbered park containing three reception rooms, domestic offices, four principal and four secondary bed chambers, dressing room, bathroom etc. The outbuildings include stabling for six horses and a double coach house with groom’s room over. There are many fine springs on the higher part of the estate one of which now supplies the house with water which could by gravitation and at small cost fill the cistern at the top of the house. The pleasure gardens are extensive and adorned with fine shrubs and timber trees, beside sheets of ornamental water well stocked with fish while in the park is a fine avenue of fir trees”. Adjacent to this were hop gardens and woodland (for shooting).

The Estate passed to Edward Bean/es and his family. Edward Beanes previously lived on Dulwich Common in London. He called himself a ‘gentleman and landed proprietor’ in the 1871 Census return but he had apparently spent a large part of his life in Cuba as a salesman and engineer working on sugar refining. The firm of Ross & Beanes, of 1 New Broad Street Court in the City of London, was well known as an agent for various British manufacturers of refining equipment. His many patents included ‘improvements to sugar refining by neutralising acids of cane juice’ and ‘improvements in brewing and treating fermented liquors’.

The property was occupied in 1881 by Edward and Julia Beanes, four of their children and five servants. Edward and Julia were to live at Moatlands for the rest of their lives.

Edward made the decision in the 1880s to stop growing hops and in 1888 he sold off 48000 hop poles with the land being turned over to fruit farming.

Sadly in 1909 Julia, who was in her 80s, died. In December 1910 it was reported in the newspapers that the Bishop of Rochester had dedicated a stained glass window in Brenchley Church that occupied almost the whole east wall of the chancel. This was erected by Mr Edward Beanes in memory of his wife.

Only a few months later on 19 August 1911 Edward Beanes died at Moatlands in his 95th year. Following his death Moatlands was put on the market once again. It was purchased by John Herbert and Bertha Mary Podmore who had married on 10 April 1894 at St Margaret’s Westminster. For the early part of their married life they lived in Chislehurst where they had three children Mary (born 1895), Jessie (born 1896), and a son Richard (born 1898).

We know from newspaper reports that by 1912 the Podmore family were residents of Moatlands and they appear to have immediately become involved in local affairs. On 17 th Feb 1917 their daughter Mary married Albert C Brooks at Brenchley but sadly their other daughter Jessie died from pneumonia following influenza in 1919 aged 22

The Podmore family was very generous with both its time and funding of the Brenchley Memorial Hall following the first World War. The premises were built to commemorate those men belonging to the Parish and its neighbourhood who gave their lives in the First World War, with the hall and complex being officially opened on 5th February 1923.

John Podmore was present for the unveiling of the War Memorial in Paddock Wood on 7th January 1921 and was one of the founders of the Paddock Wood Lodge of Freemasons consecrated later that year on 5th November at the Parochial Hall. Membership of the Masons soon increased and by April 1924 new premises were required. The foundation stone was laid for the Masonic Hall in February 1925. Its purpose was threefold: a new village hall for dances, concerts and meetings that included a licensed mens’ club as well as an area (Temple) for Masonic activities. Mr Podmore played a key role and agreed to personally make up the difference between subscriptions and full costs required. In 1929 he was elected President of the Brotherhood which met at the newly built Masonic Hall in Paddock Wood.

He also donated the Podmore building to Paddock Wood, originally as a pavilion on St Andrew’s Field, off Church Road, Paddock Wood. The building, now the Town Council Offices, was named after him.

John Podmore died on 9 th December 1940, aged 78, by which time Moatlands had been let to the British Hospital for mothers and babies which had been bombed out of London. This marked the end of an era. No longer were the owners of Moatlands to be an integral part of the locality providing generous contributions to projects being undertaken in the area.

The Masonic Hall Maidstone Road Paddock Wood behind what was the Railway Hotel ©

Three young midwives, Miss Alice Gregory, Mrs Lelia Parnell and Miss Maud Cashmere, founded the Home for Mothers and Babies in Woolwich in 1905. The objectives were to allow pregnant women to be attended by trained nurses and to promote and lengthen the training of midwives. The Home originally had 8 beds, but midwives also attended patients in their own homes. Patients only paid according to their means. By 1936 there were 72 beds. Known locally as the 'Wood Street Home', its motto was 'Esto sol testis' (let the sun be my witness).

During 1940 (WW2) a bomb fell on the corner of a ward, completely destroying half of it. At the time the nursing staff, 60 patients and 56 babies had been put in the basement but they had to be evacuated. The Ministry of Health provided beds at a house in Chesham, Bucks, and some were moved there. After five months however the hospital moved to Moatlands, which at the time remained privately owned.

Young mothers feeding the ducks with a nurse at Moatlands Paddock Wood ©

By August 1941 there were 36 beds with an average of 50 babies born each month. Moatlands was finally purchased in 1945 because repairs to the original bomb-damaged hospital were taking so long to complete. When the maternity home moved back to London in 1953, the house which by now belonged to the Ministry of Health, was offered to Tonbridge Rural Council for conversion into flats. They declined the offer and the house was sold to Fred Bridgeland of Brenchley for £4400.

Knowledge of what happened over the next thirty years is patchy but we know that by 1985 a Country Club had opened, which was put up for sale in November 1985 for £375000. It was described as a Victorian house set in 8 acres of ground with two tennis courts, a 40 feet swimming pool and a carp filled lake. The country club had a range of facilities including a conference suite, ensuite bedrooms, a restaurant, wedding venue and a billiards room as well as private quarters. There were plans to develop the candlelit restaurant and to open a Bistro.

What happened next is unclear but newspaper reports say that in the late 1980s a property developer, who had bought the site, sold it to Taiyo International who liked the fantastic views and secluded location of the beautiful rolling countryside between Brenchley and Paddock Wood. At the time golf courses were popular and many were being created as developers and investors sought to invest in the popular sport. Taiyo International already owned a number of golf courses throughout the world and they planned to build another one on the Moatlands estate.

Despite considerable local opposition to the project Taiyo International gained planning permission and in May 1994 Moatlands Golf Club (officially known as Kent National Golf & Country Club (Moatlands), Brenchley) officially opened its 18 hole championship golf course. It is rumoured that the whole project cost £11,000,000 to construct. Part of the reason for such a high cost was the vast quantity of sand that was brought to the site in order to allow the golf course to be used throughout the year.

Despite high hopes for the course and its associated Country Club facilities it closed in 2008. The bubble for Japanese based golf courses had burst and the country club could not attract enough business to be financially viable.

The site was derelict for a number of years before it was sold for £4,300,000 in 2015 to Peter and Julia Irvine who continue to run their own business from the house today. (2025). Local residents still referto the whole area as Moatlands.

Acknowledgements to Jeremy Ellwood (Golf monthly 2015), the late Don Foreman of Capel (Town Crier 2020), the late Jack Walker (1967), Sarah Hamilton and Meryl Flashman of Heritage Paddock Wood and the Find My Past newspaper archive

Moatlands Paddock Wood

Dorothy Dickens

Memorial Pavilion