Watercolour, The Long Gallery at Knole in Kent, by William Lake Price, 1836.

Watercolour of the Long Gallery at Knole in Kent. Signed and dated by the artist.

Given by a member of the Walpole Society in memory of the Battle of Jutland (WWI).

Knole began as a late 15th century archbishop's house, possibly on the site of an earlier medieval manor dating to between 1281 and 1456; later it became a Royal Tudor residence and later still it was altered as a Jacobean country house. It is constructed of Kentish ragstone, except for a later half timbered addition. It was built for Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury. King Henry VIII obtained Knole, along with Otford Palace, from Archbishop Cramner in 1532. In contrast to Otford, Knole was a smaller house; and King Henry apparantly intended to reserve it for his personal use when travelling through that area of the country, whilst the bulk of his retinue could stay at Ottford. There has been some debate as to whether Henry VIII had part of the house known as The Green Court added, or if this had in fact been added by one of Cranmer's ecclesiastical predecessors. Knole eventually left Royal ownership and became the seat of the Sackville family. It underwent major remodelling in the Jacobean style between 1605 to 1608 for Thomas Sackville. There may have been further rebuilding later in the 17th century after a fire.
Most notable, among the Sackville descendants, is the writer Vita Sackville-West (her Knole and the Sackvilles, published 1922, is regarded as a classic in the literature of English country houses). Her friend and lover Virginia Woolf wrote the novel Orlando drawing on the history of the house and Sackville-West's ancestors.
The Sackville family custom of following the Salic rules of primogeniture prevented Vita from inheriting Knole herself upon the death of her father Lionel (1867-1930), the 3rd Lord Sackville, so instead her father bequeathed the estate to his own brother Charles (1870-1962).

P.7-1919