Cobham Hall is an English country house in the county of Kent, England. The grade I listed^[1] building is one of the largest and most important houses in Kent,^[1] re-built as an Elizabethan prodigy house by William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham (1527–1597). The central block was rebuilt 1672–82 by Charles Stewart, 3rd Duke of Richmond, 6th Duke of Lennox (1639–1672).

Today the building houses Cobham Hall School, a private day and boarding school, established there in 1962, which retains 150 acres (60 ha) of the ancient estate.^[2]

The historic dairy, designed by the architect James Wyatt as an eyecatcher, was restored by the Landmark Trust [1] and opened as a holiday destination in 2019.

There has been a manor house on the site since the 12th century. The current building consists of a pair of Tudor wings built for William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham in the 16th century and a later classical central block, the "Cross Wing", remodelled in 1661–63 by Peter Mills of London for Charles Stewart, 3rd Duke of Richmond.^[3]

In the 18th century, the hall passed to the Bligh family, later Earls of Darnley. The attic storey was extended and other alterations made for John Bligh, 3rd Earl of Darnley by Sir William Chambers, ca 1767–70^[4] A kitchen court was added to the rear in 1771–73. The most notable feature of the interior is the two-storey Gilt Hall, designed and installed by George Shakespear, master carpenter and architect, of London, who made extensive interior alterations, 1770–81.^[5] The organ was built by John Snetzler in 1778–9.^[6]

John Bligh, 4th Earl of Darnley, who inherited in 1781, employed James Wyatt extensively, for interiors that included the picture gallery and the dining room, and for stables and a Gothic dairy.^[7] The library was fitted up by George Stanley Repton in 1817–20,^[8] and with his brother, John Adey Repton, in Jacobethan style, including the ceiling for "Queen Elizabeth's Room" (1817).^[9] Their father, Humphry Repton, was hired to design a landscape plan for the estate and completed one of his famous "Red Books" for Cobham in 1790.^{[citation needed]}

During the First World War it was an Australian convalescent hospital. At one point it was led by Matron Mary Anne Pocock who had served in Egypt; she was awarded a second class Royal Red Cross.^[10]

Cobham Hall remained the family home of the Earls of Darnley until 1957; it is now home to the school. It is open to the public on a limited number of days each year.^[11]

The buildings and interiors of Cobham Hall have been used as sets and locations for film and television drama.

• A scene in Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London in which Frankie Muniz fights Keith Allen in a room full of priceless treasures was filmed in the Gilt Hall.
• Scenes from an adaption of Bleak House were filmed outside the building, and it was also used in a few scenes in the comedy sketch show Tittybangbang.
• The hall is used as the Abbey Mount school in the 2008 film Wild Child starring Emma Roberts
• The hall stood in for the Foundling Hospital in the CBBC adaptation of Hetty Feather.
• Cobham Hall was used as the haunted home in the 2025 BBC Ghost Story for Christmas, The Room in the Tower.^[12][13][14]

Families who have owned the manor include the Cobham family (Barons of Cobham), the Stewart family (Earls of Lennox), and the Bligh family (Earls of Darnley).

• Six Wills Relating to Cobham Hall, Archaeologia Cantiana, Vol. 11, 1877, pp. 199–304 [2] (1. William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham; 2. Frances Countess of Kildare; 3. Frances Duchess of Richmond and Lenox; 4. Charles Stuart Duke of Richmond and Lenox; 5. Sir Joseph Williamson; 6. Lady Catherine O'Brien).
• Waller, J.G., The Lords of Cobham, their Monuments and the Church, Archaeologia Cantiana, Vol. 11, 1877, pp. 49–112 [3] & Vol. 12, pp. 113–166;
• Stephens, P.G., On the Pictures at Cobham Hall, Archaeologia Cantiana, Vol. 11, 1877, pp. 160–188.
• Cobham and its Manors [4]
• Glover, Robert (Somerset Herald), Memorials of the Family of Cobham, Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica, Vol.7, 1841, Chap. XXVII, pp. 320–354 [5]
• John Gough Nichols, Sepulchral Memorials of the Cobham Family, 1841: project never completed/published [6] Archived 24 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine
• F. C. Brooke, Sepulchral Memorials of the Cobham Family (1836–74), completion of Nichols' work.
• Esme Wingfield-Stratford, The Lords of Cobham Hall, London, 1959.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cobham Hall.

• Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1095053)". National Heritage List for England.

51°23′40″N 0°25′07″E / 51.39444°N 0.41861°E / 51.39444; 0.41861