New pictures have revealed the dramatic moment flames ripped through a Georgian building in Sutton Valence yesterday.

As flames tore through the roof of the three-storey Grade ll Listed Bellringham House, the smoke was so intense that firefighters urged villagers to keep their windows shut.

Firefighters are still at the scene today - 24 hours after they were first called to the blaze on Sutton Valence Hill, the A274.

The house is in ruins which are still smouldering this morning and there is still rubble lying in the road, which remains closed to traffic.

A diversion is in place travelling south along the A274 to Biddenden, A262 towards Cranbrook and the A229 towards Maidstone at Wheatsheaf junction with A274, and vice versa.

The home is believed to have been purchased recently after lying derelict for many years.

Its last occupant was an elderly recluse, who went into a nursing home. He was said to have been a hoarder.

Neighbours said the house, which had been broken into many times, and had most of its windows smashed, had been so crammed full of papers, boxes and furniture that there was no room to move about.

Peter Garrod, who lives on the ridge over looking the property, said: "It went up like a furnace. You could see the flames going from room to room.

"The firefighters tackling it kept running out of water.

"Once the roof collapsed, the two chimneys were initially left standing. Then they collapsed bringing down parts of the side walls with rubble spilling into the road.

"The house is only a metre from the carriageway."

He said: "Finally there was just one wall standing, and that looked like it was going to topple into the road.

"Eventually the firemen called on a JCB which used its bucket to collapse the wall deliberately so that it fell inside the property."

Mr Garrod said the fire had caused traffic chaos.

He said: "Most of the time there was no proper diversion in place. The road was simply shut. Traffic was getting stuck everywhere, all round the village."

He predicted there would be more hardship for motorists and residents in the future.

He said: "The property is so close to the road, with an obscured entrance, it will be difficult even to clear the rubble away safely."

Firemen received the first call to the blaze at 12.30pm.

They used a fog spike, hose reel jets and compressed air foam to bring the blaze under control.

Four tenders and a height vehicle and bulk water carriers were also in attendance.

No-one was injured in the fire.

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