13 November 2025
I normally do not read romantic fiction (even when it is largely based on facts), but I was curious enough to buy The Elopement by Gill Hornby, to see mentions of Mersham-le-Hatch in 1820. The end pages inside the back cover depict the front view on the southern side as at 1835, although it is uncredited and so I do not know if this is historical or from someone's idea now.*
Going by chapter V of the novel, Hatch in 1820 had two principal entrances, of equal usage. Guests generally arrived on the southern side, going up the front steps to the upper ground floor level and through the great door to the reception hall. Beyond was the main staircase, also an entrance to the grand, semi-circular drawing room, with impressive ceiling, large windows and terrace giving spectacular views of the Deer Park and beyond. The dining room was to the east, the library to the west. The east wing was for the "nursery" in those times of large well-off families, including children into their teens.
The northern elevation of Hatch started at lower ground level. The large, plain door opened onto a vestibule so that in winter guests could discreetly shed and deposit damp or muddy clothes and prepare to be received. The deer park to the north sloped down to the lake. This seems much as in my time at Hatch save that from 1943 until recent years the land immediately behind Hatch had some rural use such as grazing of cows or sheep, perhaps nibbling at socks put on the barbed wire to dry.
There is no mention of the 1824-27 relocation of the turnpike road to Hythe so as to be further away from the southern side of Hatch, then beyond via Smeeth (rather than Brabourne), which resulted in extra grounds for Hatch, such as the cricket pitch in our time used for play even by racing car drivers.
* The supposed 1835 pic is essentially the 1824 Neale drawing referred to in Chris Howell's memories, here
.