Camer Park
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2018) |
| Camer Park Country Park | |
|---|---|
 Camer Park 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 in Meopham, in Kent, England.[1] It is a former estate landscape, with ancient parkland, grassland and woodland. It is 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]This park was originally the country estate of the Smith-Masters family. It was one of the largest estates in Meopham, where there had been a farmstead in the area since the 13th century. The estate reached its peak size in the 18th and 19th centuries under the Smith-Masters.[4] The family included William Smith-Masters, an English cricketer, who died in Meopham on 27 August 1937. The last known resident was Kate (or Catherine) Smith-Masters. Her son George Smith then inherited the estate.[5] He kept the house but sold the rest of the estate, and it was bought in 1967 by the Strood Rural District Council, for the sum of £9,750.
The council converted the estate into a Country Park.[6] It was opened in the early 1970s by Gravesham Borough Council, who still manages it.[7]
The Smith-Masters estate house (a Grade II listed building) was built in 1716.[8] It still exists in private hands and can be seen from the park.
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.
- ^ "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) - ^ "Parishes: Meopham - British History Online". British-history.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- ^ "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.