The house and the farm are named after Lucas de la Gare, a knight of the shire for Kent during the reign of Edward 1st. Dating from the eleventh century, a Norman manor house once stood on the site, owned by William the Conquerer’s half-brother Hugh de Port. Remains of the building can be seen in the garden area where it can be identified by the stonework.
In 1244 a Norman Knight named Roger le Sauser burnt the original farmhouse to the ground with the assistance of a maid servant named Inger after murdering the owner. The Crown Pleas of Henry III dated 1244 records the episode in detail:
In the same year Roger le Sauser and a maid-servant named Inga left the house of Isolde of Tattershall in the City of London, and went to Gore in the county of Kent, carrying with them a pot of fire with which to burn down the house of Joce of Gore. They burned the house, and Roger killed Joce with an arrow, and fled to the church of Upchurch, where he acknowledged the deed and abjured the realm. Asked through whom and for what reason he committed the crime, he said that Isolde sent him there to defend Inga and burn the house. Next day Inga returned to London to Isolde's house, and was at once arrested and imprisoned; and having been convicted of the deed, was burned. Isolde was on this account taken and then released on bail according to the law of the City until the present pleas. She now comes, and asked how she wishes to defend herself against an accusation of this kind, she says that she wishes to defend herself according to the law of the City, to prove that the house was not burned, nor was Joce killed, by her order, or with her counsel and consent.
The building that replaced the burnt house was mainly constructed of ragstone from Hythe then demolished in 1367 and the materials were transported to Rochester where the stone was incorporated into Rochester castle.
The present farmhouse dates from about 1390 when it was constructed as a basic timber house then it became a two storey building in 1540. Henry VIII then seized it during the period when he had the monasteries dissolved and presented it as a gift to Attorney General and Canterbury MP Christopher Hales. After this it fell into disrepair until Philip Holman mortgaged it in 1610. Sir Nicholas Tufton, The Earl of Thanet and his descendants then owned the property until 1849 but the building again fell into disrepair towards the end of the eighteenth century.
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Gore Farmhouse as it is today. Photo - David Wood. |
During the first half of the nineteenth century the resident farmer John Walter lived at Gore House situated near Hartlip Hill while farm bailiffs lived in the farmhouse. These included Charles Akhurst in the first part of the nineteenth century followed by Matthew Crawford, Frank Seager and William Featherstone in the second part. Tommy Crawford who arrived around 1909 and ran the farm for many years lived in Gore House.
After World War One well-known Upchurch resident Win Wraight lived in the farmhouse. Her father worked as a stockman on the farm until a bull gored him to death forcing Win and her mother to vacate the property and make way for new tenants. Farm workers Fred Clemons, Billy Johnson and Ruby Last later resided in the property then farmer Mike Blee and his family lived there from 1965 until 2007, when the farm, the house and The BarnYard were all sold to AC Goatham & Son Limited. The house is now occupied by Stephen Everard and his family.
The farmhouse is timber framed and underbuilt with painted bricks. It also has a plain tiled hipped roof, a sixteenth century wing. There are two casement windows on each floor. There is a central door with a gabled porch. There are also traces of medieval stone-work in the north-west part of the house. The floors and chimney stacks date from the sixteenth century. The farmhouse became a listed building in 1984.
According to eye-witness accounts the farmhouse is haunted. A former resident informed me that he had had an encounter with the apparition of a male figure dressed in mid-seventeenth century costume consisting of a dark maroon outfit, knee length stockings and a wide brimmed hat with a plume. The son of another former resident told me that his father had seen something but had refused to give details for fear of being ridiculed. The haunting is debatable but Gore farmhouse remains an intriguing, old, historical building in Upchurch.
About David
David Wood was born and raised in Upchurch and is able to write from personal experience about many people and aspects of the village and of changes that have taken place over the years making ‘Memories of Upchurch’ a very readable book and a detailed historical study of the village. David's book ‘Memories of Upchurch’ is available direct from David at: david3702001@yahoo.co.uk or from us here at Upchurch Matters. Price £12 + £3.50 postage and packing.
David Wood
