[2][3] Its proximity to nearby Penenden Heath (the site of shire moots during the Middle Ages) indicates that it may once have formed part of an administrative region in central Kent.
[4][5][6] The park is incorporated into royal history as a possession of King Edward IV's consort, Elizabeth Woodville (daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers) and was later raided by Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick angered by the King's marriage.
The Woodville family continued to lay claim to the land despite various interventions during the reign of Richard III and Henry VII.
[8] On Thursday, August the 1st, 1799, King George III and Prime Minister William Pitt visited the property to inspect around 3,000 assembled troops of the Kent Volunteers, a local militia trained to defend the county from a possible invasion by Napoleon I of France.
[3][10][11][12] Between 1793 and 1800 the original Mote House was demolished and a new mansion constructed, designed by Daniel Asher Alexander.
[3] Eventually the family gathered enough funds to expand the property and the park reached the size it is today, approximately 180 hectares (440 acres).
The estate had included the Mote Cricket Club since 1857, and Viscount Bearsted expanded the facility, building a pavilion between 1908 and 1910.
Mote House was commandeered by the British Armed Forces who used the kitchen garden as a headquarters and training facility during the Second World War.
[21] In February 2011, scrubland was due to be cleared and 140 new parkland trees planted including alder, birch, hornbeam, sweet chestnut, beech, oak, redwood and lime.
After 140 consecutive years of play, Mote Park was taken off the list of county grounds used after a low scoring game that ended in under two days incurred a points deduction from the England and Wales Cricket Board.
[28] The facilities had only months before been approved for redevelopment as part of a larger scheme to increase the profile of cricket in the county town.