Ford Palace

Ford Palace was an archiepiscopal residence in the parish of Hoath, Kent, about eleven kilometres north-east of Canterbury and four kilometres south-east of Herne Bay. Built near a shallow stream crossing on the old Roman road to Reculver, the site may have housed earlier buildings since Anglo-Saxon times. The earliest stone remains date from about 1300, though written records begin in the 14th century. Archbishop John Morton rebuilt much of it in brick during the 1490s, adding a five-storey tower. Thomas Cranmer often stayed there, writing letters and receiving the King in 1544. By the 17th century the palace had fallen into disrepair and was largely demolished in 1658. The palace’s decline began when Archbishop Matthew Parker proposed its partial demolition in 1573. In 1647 a parliamentary survey found it still in fair condition, yet it was sold for materials in 1658 while Canterbury diocese was vacant. After the Restoration the site reverted to the Church, but by 1661 only the chapel survived, used as a barn. Earlier Roman finds on the site include coins, a fragment of inscription and cropmarks of a villa three hundred metres to the south. Anglo-Saxon objects such as a claw beaker have also been recovered nearby. Visitors today see earthworks and low walls marking the palace’s former extent. A surviving brick wall from the garden and parts of the gatehouse remain in a farmhouse and barn. The surrounding park once covered about sixty-seven hectares, stretching towards the stream where the Roman road crossed. The quiet fields and hedgerows still follow the old boundaries, giving a sense of the estate’s size. No grand ruins stand above ground, yet the low remains and scattered fragments tell of a place once central to Canterbury’s archbishops.