I've been having a significantly hard time find out about a house that a friend lives in. The house itself is either 17th or 18th century I believe. The house is called "Toke Place" in Linton Kent, its a pretty big house that's very unusual with a crypt, stone arches inside and a stone plaque on the wall which we believe may be linked to a chapel due to the arches being very close and the plaque having a prayer.
The house has been really hard to find information on and so far I've found one person who lived there before the 20th century and nothing else. It seems like the house doesn't have many records so I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas on records I can look into, particularly ones that may show if it has been renamed over the years or even shed some light on who may be in the crypt.
Its a fascinating house, If anyone could help by shedding some light on the property or even pointing me in the right direction as to the best records to check for information I would greatly appreciate it.
Image: http://imgur.com/rmPlAgk
I found a small mention of Toke Place, which is on the property known as Toke Farm (currently housing egg production) here: http://www.lintonpc.kentparishes.gov.uk/default.cfm?pid=messages&threadid=4133
The property has been divided into self-contained flats and are managed by Brucells of Kent (http://www.brucells.co.uk/), they may be able to give you some history or direction on finding more information on the property.
It might pay to contact the Linton Parish Council for more information, as their parish clerk may have access to some records that may be helpful. Google turned up quite a bit of information on the Phillpott/Philpot family, as well as a bit on the ownership of Godinton House by the Toke family. The house has it's own website and contacting the administrator may result in some great information about the Tokes. Here's a neat little find on the house and the Philpotts: (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDgQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stonnington.vic.gov.au%2FDownloadDocument.ashx%3FDocumentID%3D8043&ei=KheiU8CZNseiyASf6YHYDQ&usg=AFQjCNEH4lLdXEqBV2jyIkLCU4D5lFUgew&sig2=57cOOwMNQPRV9TBrJp05oQ&bvm=bv.69137298,d.aWw&cad=rja)
The home dates from the late 19th century (http://dynamic.maidstone.gov.uk/pdf/080306_regen_lintoncons.pdf) and was likely built on an older property site. It may be helpful to pursue your research on the entire property known as Linton Hill. Also check this resource (http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/)
I hope these will lead you to finding out more information on when the house was built and what may have been there prior to the construction. :)