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The Manor House of Court Lodge in Lamberhurst has been in the same family since the early 1730鈥檚. In World War One the Lord and Lady, Charles and Ada Morland opened the house up as a hospital.

War was declared in August 1914 and the hospital was up and running by late October that year.

The library was cleared for nine beds and the drawing room was turned into an operating theatre. The Morland鈥檚 were active in every aspect of their home鈥檚 new role. Ada worked in the house. Charles was known to meet new patients at the railway station in his motorcar.

The house remained a hospital in 1919. Charles and Ada Morland were popular in the village and took their wartime responsibilities seriously. And yet their reward was tragedy: in 1923 Ada burned to death in a fire in the library.

Heather Dyke, the eighth generation of Morlands to own the house narrates the World War One story of Court Lodge.

Location: Court Lodge, Lamberhurst, Kent TN3 8DU
Image: Court Lodge, courtesy of Heather Dyke, who also narrates the story

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