son, he left the house to his brother Belknap Rudston, who, on his death in 1613, left it to Sir Francis Barnham, several times member of parliament for Maidstone. Sir Francis's son Sir Robert Barnham next occupied the house, taking the manor's name as his territorial designation when created a baronet in 1663. Sir Robert served as MP for Maidstone in the Convention Parliament of 1660 and in the Cavalier Parliament from 1661 to 1679. His son Francis predeceased him and, on his death around 1685, the estate was inherited by his daughter Philadelphia Barnham, wife of Thomas Rider. Thomas Rider was MP for Maidstone in 1690 and from 1696 to 1698. He carried out a number of alterations to the house and its grounds between 1685 and 1690. Following his death in 1698, the estate was inherited by his son Sir Barnham Rider, MP for Maidstone from 1722 to 1727, and then his son, Thomas Rider. The second Thomas Rider left the house to his cousin Ingram Rider in 1786. In 1805, Ingram Rider left it to his son Thomas Rider, MP for Kent and West Kent from 1831 to 1835. The third Thomas Rider rebuilt parts of the house and extended and re-landscaped the park. On his death in 1847, he left the house to his nephew, also Thomas Rider, who let the house to a series of tenants. From 1903 to 1998, the house was occupied by the Winch family, firstly as leaseholders then, from 1960, as freeholders. The Winches sold the house in 1998; it remains in private ownership and belongs to the Kendrick family. Buildings The two-storey L-shaped main house forms the east and south sides of a courtyard with single-storey stables forming the north and west sides. To the south-west of the house, is a second, larger courtyard flanked on its west side by a large barn and on its north and south by single storey return wings. The house is the remainder of a former courtyard house built for Robert Rudston circa 1567–75 as an extension to an earlier, pre-16th-century house. It is built of Kentish ragstone, roughly coursed on the north half of the east range and more regularly coursed on the south half of the east range and on the south range. The centre of the east range features a two-storey porch with galleted stonework on the upper level. The roof