Finchcocks

Finchcocks
View of the rear of the house, from the garden
Location of Finchcocks in Kent
General information
Type	House
Architectural style	Georgian
Classification	Grade I listed
Address	Finchcocks
Town or city	Goudhurst, Kent
Country	United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°06′08″N 0°25′38″E / 51.1022°N 0.4273°E / 51.1022; 0.4273
Completed	1725
Technical details
Floor area	15,387 square feet (1,429.5 m2)
TQ 7003 3646

Finchcocks is an early Georgian manor house in Goudhurst, Kent. For 45 years it housed a large, visitor-friendly museum of historical keyboard instruments, displaying a collection of harpsichords, clavichords, fortepianos, square pianos, organs and other musical instruments. The museum was run by the owners of the house, Richard and Katrina Burnett.

The house was built in 1725 and named after the family who lived on the site in the 13th century. It is noted for its brickwork and has a dramatic front elevation attributed to Thomas Archer. It is located in 13 acres (5.3 ha) of grounds. There is parkland to the front and a garden to the rear with wide lawns, mature shrub borders, an orchard for wild flowers, and a walled garden. There are extensive views over the Kentish landscape of park, farmland, and hop-gardens.

The house, with its high ceilings and oak panelling, provides an ideal setting for music performed on period instruments; the house and instruments have been used regularly for recordings by leading exponents of early music such as Trevor Pinnock, Simon Preston and Nigel North. There is also a jazz club which was founded by Alastair Laurence of the Broadwood Piano company and was developed by Roan Kearsey-Lawson into a premier jazz venue where international artists have appeared including Frank Holder and Duncan Lamont. The club has also been featured on BBC One television.