History

The first glimpse of Great Dixter, its great tiled and timbered bulk reclining comfortably on the gentle slope of the hill, suggests that there is a building of great antiquity, surely completed by the end of the Middle Ages, and as much a part of the history of the Sussex Weald as Bodiam Castle or Northiam Church.

Appearances are deceptive, however, and the present Great Dixter is three houses, one built here in the mid-15th century with slightly later additions, the second a yeoman’s house from Benenden, across the border in Kent, built in the early 16th century, and moved here in 1910, and the third combines the two with additional accommodation, completed in 1912.

It was at this time that the house, hitherto called merely Dixter, was renamed Great Dixter, to distinguish it from Little Dixter next door.