DiCamillo Companion
England

Wildernesse House (Dorton House) (Wilderness)

Seal, near Sevenoaks

Kent

England

Circa Date: Mid-18th century w/circa 1800-05, 1855, 1884, 20th & 21st century alterations and additions

Status: Fully Extant

House Open to Public: No

This house has been used for TV and Film

An 1831 hand-colored engraving of the house

The house from a circa 1920 postcard

  • Earlier Houses: There was an earlier house on the site of the current house.

    House & Family History: In 1923, Wildernesse, as it was then named, was converted into a country club. After serving as a hospital during World War II, the house continued to serve as a country club until 1954, when it was sold to the Royal London Society for the Blind, who renamed it Dorton House, after the society's previous home, Dorton House, Buckinghamshire. The RLSB sold Dorton House in 2013.

  • Architect: George Dance, Jr.

    Date: Circa 1805
    Designed: Alterations for 2nd Earl Camden

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  • Title: Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840, A - HARDBACK
    Author: Colvin, Howard
    Year Published: 2008
    Reference: pg. 298
    Publisher: New Haven: Yale University Press
    ISBN: 9780300125085
    Book Type: Hardback

  • House Listed: Grade II

    Park Listed: Not Listed

  • "Parade's End" (2012 - as the Cabinet War Office, the gentlemen's club, and Valentine Wannop's bedroom).

  • Past Seat / Home of: SEATED AT EARLIER HOUSE: Sir Charles Bickerstaffe, 17th century. SEATED AT CURRENT HOUSE: John Jeffreys Pratt, 1st Marquess Camden and 2nd Earl Camden, early 19th century. Charles Henry Mills, 1st Baron Hillingdon, 1884-98.

    Current Ownership Type: Corporation

    Primary Current Ownership Use: Flats / Multi Family

    Ownership Details: Converted into 23 retirement flats in 2019

  • House Open to Public: No

    Historic Houses Member: No

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