Quex Park
Quex Park is 250 acres (1.0 km2) of parkland and gardens, with Quex House and other buildings, situated just south-east from Birchington-on-Sea in Kent, England. It houses the Powell-Cotton Museum, and the Waterloo tower, a secular bell tower.
History
There has been a house on the Quex site since the early 15th century, and gained its Quex name from the ownership of the rich wool merchant Quekes family in the 16th century. The house was purchased by John Powell-Cotton in 1777, and his nephew, also John, demolished the existing mansion, and replaced it with a regency home. The house is still owned by the Powell-Cotton family.
In the 19th century, the family amalgamated two farms to form Quex Park, and began a programme of tree planting and landscaping to create the current park land.
During the First World War, Quex House became an Auxiliary Military Hospital run by the Birchington Voluntary Aid Detachment. In 1923, the Memorial Ground was donated to the village by Mr H. A. Erlebach for sport and recreational use. Erlebach owned the village's now defunct Woodfood House School and purchased land from the Quex House estate for the school. He gave the southern part of the land to the people of Birchington and dedicated it in memory of his three sons who had been killed in the First World War. The land is now owned by Thanet District Council.
