| Sources |
- [S31] Kent Garden Trust Glassenbury Park, (https://www.kentgardenstrust.org.uk/research-projects/Tunbridge%20Wells/Glassenbury%20Park.pdf), 10 Mar 2019, https://www.kentgardenstrust.org.uk/research-projects/Tunbridge%20Wells/Glassenbury%20Park.pdf (Reliability: 2).
Glassenbury (sometimes Glastenbury) is an ancient manor that takes its name
from the Saxon words glastney (meaning watery) and burh (a fortified place)
(Greenwood). The manor was the property of the Tilley family until 1377 when,
following the marriage of Joanne Tilley to a Stephen Rockhurst, the land was
transferred to her husband (Hasted). In 1399, they built an imposing stone
house, ‘a fair sumptuous mansion’ (Hasted), on Winchet Hill, to the south-east
of the present mansion. The Rockhursts were descendants of an ancient
Scottish family and when Walter Rockhurst inherited in 1470, he was keen to
improve his family’s standing. He changed his name to Roberts and built a new
mansion ‘which he moated around, and inclosed a large park’ (Hasted). The
new moated mansion was in a valley below Winchett Hill on the site of the
present Glassenbury. The 1629 Great Pedigree of the Roberts family described
it as situated ‘before Moorishe [marshy] ground, very woodye and nigh their
former habitacion upon the hill’. The soil from the moat was evidently used to
construct a platform for the house and the valley was dammed to ensure a good
depth of water (Wyndham).
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