Camer Park
| Camer Country Park | |
|---|---|
 Camer Country Park | |
 | |
| Coordinates | 51°22′39″N 0°22′08″E / 51.3776°N 0.3689°E (grid reference TQ649669) |
| Area | 40 acres (160,000 m2) |
| Created | 1971 |
| Operated by | Kent County Council, |
| Open | All-year, 7 days a week, dawn until dusk |
| Website | [1] |
Camer Park is a 40 acres (16 ha)-country park near Meopham, in Kent, England.[1]
A former country house estate with ancient parkland, grassland and woodland, Camer is situated in the Kent Downs National Landscape, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.[2]
Common lizards (such as lacerta vivipara) and slowworms (anguis fragilis) can be found in the park.[3]
History
[edit]The largest landholding in the parish of Meopham there had been a farmstead at Camer since the 13th century. Owned since Elizabethan times by seven generations of the Masters family, upon the death without issue of William Masters (1732–1761), the Camer estate devolved upon his elder sister, Kate Masters (1727–1814), who in 1748 married a cousin of the Smith baronets, William Smith (1720–1764).[4]
Their grandson, William Masters Smith (1802–1861), was elected MP for West Kent and served as High Sheriff of Kent (1849/50), under whose ownership Camer Park reached its peak size.[5] His great-nephew, William Smith-Masters, who played cricket for Kent, inherited the family estate in 1875, upon whose death in 1937, Camer devolved upon his younger brother, the Revd John Smith-Masters FRHistS (1856–1940), then his elder surviving son, Captain Ernest Smith-Masters (1889–1963) late RE. His only son, Colonel George Smith-Masters (1916–1988) late RASC, inherited Camer and in 1967 sold the parkland to the Strood Rural District Council for the sum of £9,750, retaining the house and manorial lordships.[6]
Opened to the public as a Country Park[7] in the early 1970s by Gravesham Borough Council, Camer Park is managed by Kent County Council.[8]
Camer House (a Grade II-listed building), built in 1716 by the Masters (later Smith-Masters) family,[9] can be seen from the park and is currently owned by Lady Gambon.[10]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Nigel Yates (Editor) Kent in the Twentieth Century, p. 365, at Google Books
- ^ "Meopham walk". Kent Downs.
- ^ "Camer Park". gravesham.gov.uk. 27 March 2017. Archived from the original on 7 April 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ "Parishes: Meopham - British History Online". British-history.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ www.manorialsociety.co.uk
- ^ "Camer Park in Meopham - UK Attraction". Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- ^ "Camer Park". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
- ^ "Camer House, Meopham, Kent". Britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Archived from the original on 10 November 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- ^ www.kentlive.news