Hemsted Park

[3][4] There is reference to the "dene of Hemsted" in a charter of 993 issued by Æthelred the Unready,[5] but the earliest available records show the land in the possession of Odo, Earl of Kent, the man believed to have commissioned the Bayeux Tapestry, having been given it―amongst much other property in the county―by his half-brother William the Conqueror after the Norman Conquest.

[2][6][10] In the early 18th century the property was sold to Admiral Sir John Norris, the commander-in-chief of George II's navy.

[7][8][11][12] He reduced the size of the hall, removing two wings of the brick built house, one of which had two octagonal towers, filled in the moat that had until that point encircled it and created the lake in the grounds.

The grounds of the park were relandscaped during the same period by William Broderick Thomas and much of the village of Benenden was also remodelled at the same time.

[16] The house, which featured a prominent tower and was described as having "alarming vitality", was built in an Elizabethan style and was subsequently remodelled in 1912 by Herbert Cescinsky at the behest of its new owner, newspaper magnate and later Lord Rothermere, Harold Harmsworth.

A cricket pitch was laid out at Hemsted Park[a] during the early 19th century by the Hodges family and used for a number of "society matches".

[19] A match in 1835 between a team assembled by Thomas Twisden Hodges and one from Sheldwich Lees representing Lord Sondes was watched by over 6,000 spectators[19] and the ground was the home ground of Benenden Cricket Club, who were a significant side in Kent at the time, between 1835 and 1843.

[19][20][21][22] Wenman was born in Benenden, worked as a wheelwright and was an amateur cricketer, being particularly noted as an excellent wicket-keeper.

[21] The occasion was described: ...every arrangement was made for the accommodation of the numerous visitors, several marquees and booths having been erected around the circle enclosed for the play –The Sporting Magazine, 1843[21] The match was the only time that Kent used the ground.