In the centre of the village is the Victorian gargoyle lodge with an archway diagonally set in the angle between the two roads. The Lodge (also known as “Lodge Gates”) has featured in dozens of photographs and postcards of Maresfield over the years.

This lodge was built about 1847 by Sir John Villiers Shelley and replaced a large old house called ‘Strethouse’ which was built about 1680 by William Newnham and whose last tenant was William Day, who was well known in the district as a barrister and Poor Law Commissioner. It is thought that the site had been used prior to 1680 possibly for a hunting lodge.

The first picture shows the Lodge as a single storey building and occupied by troops in Maresfield Park Camp in the Great War. The second picture below shows the additional storey added about 1927.