Somerhill House (/ˈsʌmərhɪl/ SUM-ər-hil) is a Grade I listed Jacobean mansion situated near Tonbridge, Kent, United Kingdom.

Somerhill House lies 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) south of Tonbridge at grid reference TQ 6086 4510,[1] in the civil parish of Tudeley-cum-Capel,[2] which falls under Tunbridge Wells Borough Council.

[3] The land that Somerhill was built on originally formed part of the estate of South Frith, one of two deer parks in the Lowey of Tonbridge.

[12] Following the Battle of Naseby in 1645, Somerhill was sequestrated by Parliament, which gave it to The 3rd Earl of Essex, the half-brother of Ulick, Lord Clanricarde.

[14] Following the Restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660, Somerhill was given to Margaret, Viscountess Muskerry, the daughter of The 1st Marquess of Clanricarde.

[15] Lady Muskerry had extravagant tastes, and gradually sold off much of the lands of South Frith to various people.

[16] She died in 1698, and Somerhill passed to her son, John Villiers, who styled himself the Earl of Buckingham.

Some 1,200 acres (490 ha) of grounds was sold separately to Abraham Hill of Sutton at Hone, Kent.

[18] On 5 August 1752, the house was visited by Horace Walpole, who described its setting as commanding "a vast landscape, beautifully wooded and has quantities of large old trees to shelter itself".

[21] In the spring of 1810, J. M. W. Turner made a drawing of Somerhill,[22][23] and then in 1811 he painted it for the Woodgates, choosing a view across the lake in the grounds, with the house in the distance.

The painting, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1811, is now in the National Galleries of Scotland, and the sketchbook containing his earlier drawing is at the Tate.

[23] Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the subsequent agricultural depression,[3] coupled with the collapse of the Tonbridge Bank in 1812, Woodgate was declared bankrupt in 1816.

[24] In that year, Woodgate offered Somerhill for sale to the Duke of Wellington, who declined to buy it as the foxhunting was not good enough for his liking.

[3] Somerhill was bought from the descendants of William Woodgate in November 1819 by James Alexander, MP.

[3] The lake at Somerhill, which Turner had painted in 1811, was used to supply ice for the house, as a watering place for the estate's cattle, and for recreational boating.

Frederick Goldsmid tried to get the Commissioners to stop fouling the stream, but they refused to act and the situation worsened.

A ghost in the form of a lady in white is said to haunt the Julian staircase, located in the Victorian part of the house.

[3] D'Avigdor-Goldsmid allowed people to drive their carriages through the grounds of Somerhill,[29] although the house was not open to the public.

Amongst the distinguished visitors were John Betjeman, Hugh Casson, David Niven and Enoch Powell.

[2] On 19 September 1963,[33] the d'Avigdor-Goldsmid's daughter Sarah was drowned in an accident,[3] which occurred off Rye, East Sussex.

[34] Artist Marc Chagall was commissioned to design a set of stained glass windows in All Saints' Church, Tudeley, in her memory.

The works were undertaken by R. Durtnell & Sons of Brasted, who celebrated their 400th anniversary in 1991 with a party held at Somerhill as the restoration was completed.

In 2004, the bridge over the lake was repaired at a cost of £170,000, aided by a grant of £32,000 from Tunbridge Wells Borough Council.

[3] In 2006, planning permission was granted for the conversion of the walled garden into a dining hall and indoor swimming pool.