The Historic Houses

Kemnal Manor

c. 1250 / rebuilt 1875 · Destroyed by fire 1964

The oldest estate on the road, documented since 1250. Owned by New College, Oxford for an extraordinary 480 years before Samuel Asser purchased the freehold and rebuilt the manor in 1875. Sir James Kemnal (born Rosenthal), managing director of Babcock & Wilcox who fitted the boilers to HMS Dreadnought, lived here from 1911 to 1927. The house served as an army headquarters during WWII, and a Cold War bunker was built on the grounds — later converted into the luxury “Glass House” residence. The manor itself was destroyed by fire in 1964, and much of the estate is now the GreenAcres Kemnal Park Cemetery.

Foxbury

1877 · Now a private residence

The grandest house on Kemnal Road, designed by David Brandon (former Vice President of RIBA) for banker Henry Tiarks at a cost of £22,000 on 57 acres. A ragstone mansion in a mixed gothic and tudor style, with enriched panelled ceilings inspired by Hatfield House. The Tiarks family employed approximately 20 servants. The estate grew to include polo grounds, a nine-hole golf course, and a working farm. In 1938 it became the Church Missionary Society training centre; during WWII it housed the ATS and the London Scottish Regiment. Woolwich Building Society purchased it in 1976 for £145,000. In 2009, Michael Jackson leased the property for £15,000 per month for his planned O2 concerts, but died before moving in.

Foxearth

Date unknown · Survives but derelict

Originally Woodheath Cottage, rebuilt before 1923 and possibly designed by architect E.J. May. The Cheshire family, gardeners to the Tiarks at Foxbury, lived here for decades. In 1953, a young woman named Rene Agnes Brown was found stabbed in the grounds. The suspect, William Pettit, became the first person in British history whose photograph was broadcast on television by the police in an appeal for information.

Holly Bowers

1884 · Demolished after fire c. 1964

The largest house after Foxbury, set on 7.6 acres, designed by architect George Lethbridge. Birthplace in 1888 of Fryn Tennyson Jesse, the writer who published 36 works spanning war correspondence, novels, and criminal psychology. Major John Benthall CBE, a decorated shipbuilder who received the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun, lived here from 1930 to 1947. When planning permission for demolition was refused, the house mysteriously “caught fire and was damaged beyond repair.” Replaced by Mapledene flats in 1966.

Mulbarton (Wyvelsfield)

1881 · Demolished 1958

Designed by George Lethbridge, originally named Wyvelsfield and later renamed Mulbarton Court around 1920. The house suffered bomb damage in 1940. Its most colourful resident was Harold Molins (1933–1956), a Cuban-born industrialist who founded the Molins Machine Company, manufacturers of cigarette-making machinery. Molins installed slot machines throughout the house for his guests' amusement and had a television set in every room — decades before this became commonplace. Replaced by 12 apartments.

Kemnal Wood

1871 · Demolished 1972

Designed by George Somers Leigh Clarke, this was one of the earliest houses on the road. It was home to the Kemnal Theatrical Society (1907–1911), an amateur theatre company founded by the Ashworth children; George Ashworth wrote six plays for the group, with annual membership costing five shillings. Tragically, two Ashworth sons were killed in the First World War. The grounds were subsequently developed into Dickens Drive, Dorrit Way, and Pickwick Way.

Kemnal Warren (Homeleigh)

1880 · Demolished c. 1935

A Queen Anne-style house designed by Joseph Moye. Notorious among the road's residents for an extraordinary animal menagerie maintained by its occupants: 70 dogs, 11 puppies, 27 cats, 16 monkeys, over 100 birds, a rat, and a goat. The situation grew so intolerable that neighbours took the matter to court, where the judge ruled: “You cannot keep a menagerie and make your neighbours' lives intolerable.” The site was redeveloped as apartments in 1962.

Inglewood

1881 · Demolished 1963

Built by William Buxton. Home to Nettleton Balme, Chairman of the Parish Council, and later to Jorn Reissner, who left to become a rock musician. Replaced by a 21-apartment block.

Selwood (Timara)

1878 · Converted to residential units

Notable for its striking cupola, Selwood has been home to a succession of distinguished residents. Charles Speyer, a member of the Frankfurt banking dynasty, lived here before the First World War. Sir Hugh Fraser, a merchant knighted in 1911 who served as Norway's Consul at Madras, was in residence from 1921 to 1944. The house later passed through government use and Hyde Housing. Much of the original interior panelling has been preserved.

South Home (Oaklands)

1880 · Demolished 1958, rebuilt 2000

A 2-acre property that was subdivided into 5 flats by 1945 as the post-war housing shortage took hold. Demolished in 1958 and replaced by South Home flats. The current Oaklands apartment building was constructed on the site in 2000.

Westerland (South Laund)

1876 · Demolished 1957

First owned by barrister Henry Worsley. The house is the subject of a charming memoir, A Year at Southlaund 1897, which provides an evocative portrait of daily life in a late-Victorian Kemnal Road household. Demolished in 1957 and replaced by Westerland flats, the site was redeveloped again in 2003 as Worsley Grange.

Nizels

1882 · Divided into three residences

Designed by architect Joseph Buxton. Home to Travers Hawes, a solicitor instrumental in the campaign to protect Chislehurst Commons. One of the road's enduring mysteries is the 25-foot-high brick wall with Roman arches separating Nizels from the South Home grounds — its purpose and origin have never been satisfactorily explained. Bishop Harold Bilbrough of Newcastle retired here in 1941 and remained until his death in 1950. The house is now divided into three separate residences: Trees, Walden, and Nizels.

Hoblands (Woodheath)

1877 / rebuilt 1926 · Still standing

The original Woodheath was built in 1877 on 3.75 acres. It suffered two fires: a serious blaze in November 1909 and a catastrophic fire in June 1913, when “the upper part of this fine mansion was totally destroyed,” with damage estimated at £15,000. Frank Tiarks, son of Henry Tiarks of Foxbury, a partner at Schroders and a director of the Bank of England for 34 years, owned the property but chose not to rebuild.

In 1925, Arthur Pelham Ford commissioned architect Fred Harrild to design a Georgian replacement, naming it Hoblands — a reference to medieval maps that marked “Hobland” in this corner of Kent. The property also boasted Chislehurst's first swimming pool (1911): marble-lined, heated, with swings and a water slide, designed by Maurice Webb. Judge Gerald Hurst KC lived here during the war, watching Battle of Britain air combat from his doorstep. Joseph Scratcherd's daughter Tessa grew up at Hoblands and went on to become the actress Yvonne Furneaux.

Woodlands

1871 · Demolished c. 1968

Home to John Webster, a hosiery manufacturer, with over 5 acres of grounds. The house later became a Church Missionary Society property, renamed Liskeard Lodge. The grounds were developed into Roehampton Drive and Liskeard Close.

Meadowcroft

1874 · Demolished c. 1956

Home to Sir Walter Murton, Solicitor to the Board of Trade and tireless protector of Chislehurst Commons. Murton purchased the Amenity Strip along the western side of Kemnal Road to preserve the road's woodland character. His successor, Major Philip Margetson MC — Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, who held the KCVO — lived here from 1934 until the house's demolition. Margetson's son Nicholas was killed in Tunisia in 1943. The grounds became Marlowe Close, a development of 20 houses.