The main part of the existing house is Tudor, although it may incorporate earlier foundations. The earliest of the several wells adjacent to the house has been dated to the 15th Century.
Before 1606, it was owned by a family named Herring.
- 1606 Sold to John Gibbon, the third son of Thomas Gibbon, of Bethersden in Kent
- 1636 Acquired by Sir Anthony Aucher, Bt. It remained in the Aucher family for over a century. It is believed that Aucher built the Dower House, which is 200 yards to the north, later in the 17th century, together with the tunnel that links the two houses. From its narrowness, it is clear that the tunnel was designed as an escape route. Aucher, a Royalist, had been imprisoned in the Tower under Cromwell, so personal security was presumably a priority for him. In 1710, Elizabeth Aucher married John Corbet, who died in 1737. When Elizabeth died in 1764, their five daughters sold their shares in the estate to Francis Hender Foote, who died in 1773.
- 1785 John Foote, Francis's eldest son acquired the final shares in the estate, and so became the sole owner. John died in 1800, and his son Robert owned the house until 1828. At some time while in Robert's ownership, the Georgian frontage and end elevations, including the magnificent ballroom, were added, creating the house as it is today. Robert Foote was High Sheriff of Kent in 1815.
Between 1819 and his death in 1830, the house provided one of the locations for the affair between George 1V and Elizabeth,