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Cobham Hall - Kent

Phased conservation of large brick and stone building

Cobham Hall is one of largest and most important houses in Kent. The fine red-brick mansion was built in Elizabethan, Jacobean, Carolean and 18th century styles. The de Cobham family occupied a house here in the Middle Ages but the modern history of Cobham Hall began with William Brooke, 10th Lord Cobham, an important figure at Queen Elizabeth's court who added the two red-brick wings to the old house.

The house was sold to the Ministry of Works in the 1950’s and shortly afterwards was brought by the current owners as a girls boarding school. With grant aid from English Heritage, a phased programme of repair has been going on for the past few years. Working within the restrictions its current use imposes, Nimbus have now completed work to both wings.

This has involved internal and external repairs but principally, the conservation of large areas of brickwork. In some cases (notably the chimneys), much of the old fabric had to be taken down and carefully rebuilt incorporating new hand made red rubber bricks. The stone mullion windows required a large amount of repair and installation of new stone which had to be done without disturbing the historic fabrics within the rooms.

Another notable part of the work was the very fine stone Jacobean entrance porch made from limestone. This was suffering from some structural movement as well as decay to the stonework. A number of stabilising pins were inserted and the stonework conserved.

Client: Cobham Hall School
Architect: John Sell