Woodgate

In 1712 the estate then came into the possession of the Woodgate family; John Woodgate (1664-1727) bought the house now known as Somerhill. Their association with the area is remembered in Woodgate Way, and William Woodgate’s portrait still hangs in the Long Library at Somerhill. By this stage the house was somewhat neglected and Horace Walpole who was touring Kent remarked: “The house is little better than a farm, but has been an excellent one and is entire, though out of repair.” On the 5th August 1752, and full of the romantic spirit, Walpole wrote to his friend, Richard Beatty: ‘We climbed up a hill to see Summer Hill ... it stands high, commands a vast landscape, beautifully wooded and has quantities of large old trees to shelter itself ...”

The Woodgates were an important Tonbridge family in the 18th and 19th centuries. Before then, according to Parish records, the family were in the Penshurst area in the late 14th century, and later in the Chiddingstone Hoath area, where they lived first in Truggers farmhouse and then in a house referred to as Stonewall but now named Woodgates. This was built by Peter Woodgate in the mid-16th century and still stands, next to Stonewall Park.

John Woodgate had 13 children, one of whom, Henry, inherited both Somerhill and Stonewall in 1728 and played a full part in public life; he promoted the Medway navigation scheme and left money for an organ in the parish church. Since Henry was childless, he made his nephew William (1743-1809) his heir. William was the son of Henry's brother Francis (1706-90) who had become a curate at Seal, married a local lady and was then given the living of Mountfield in Sussex by the Duke of Dorset.

William married Frances Hooker, built up a considerable fortune and bought the new house (built by his brother-in-law Thomas Hooker) attached to Tonbridge Castle in 1793 for his son, William Francis (1770-1828). William Woodgate's participation in town life included sending his sons to Tonbridge School, serving as a magistrate, financing the new Town Hall in 1798 (just north of the Big Bridge) and owning about a dozen properties in the town.

After William died, William Francis (‘The Major’) moved to Somerhill and made improvements to it. He had at least ten children, and one of his daughters married Dr Thomas Knox, the headmaster of Tonbridge School.

During the threat of a Napoleonic invasion, William Francis commanded a troop of about 55 cavalry volunteers, as part of the West Kent Yeomanry, who were raised from among local inhabitants in 1794. His father had been one of three founders of the Tonbridge Bank in 1792 but in 1816 the Bank failed, bringing ruin to its backers. The Woodgates were hit hard by the agricultural depression at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and sold the same year. (The victorious Duke of Wellington declined to buy Somerhill, dissatisfied with its fox hunting!).

William Francis was forced to sell Somerhill. Although Woodgates no longer lived in Somerhill after that date, another member of the family, Francis (1781-1843), returned to live in Tonbridge in 1823 when he bought Ferox Hall. With the large family of succeeding generations of Woodgates living in Sevenoaks, Seal, Pembury, Penshurst and further afield, the family features in many aspects of the locality's history throughout the whole of the 19th century.

James Alexander (1769-1848) became the new owner of the Somerhill Estate and he obtained JMW Turner’s painting, completed in 1811 of the grounds and building before it was sold to the National Gallery of Scotland; its current home. The painting is probably the most exquisite example of Turner’s transformation of the tradition of the topographical house portrait. He had painted the scene apparently for the Woodgate family. His viewpoint was the lakeside looking up through the trees towards the house on the ridge. The honey-coloured stonework is bathed in warm, soft evening light.

James Alexander was an MP (Old Sarum) There is also a Sarcophagus in the grounds of Somerhill. It is believed to come from Tonbridge Priory where several coffins were found (the site being between Vale Road and Priory Road in Tonbridge, the ruins being demolished to make way for the railway) and Alexander acquired one of these. It is currently sited in the Rose Garden.

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