May 2024 Meeting Report
At our May meeting members and visitors welcomed back Chris Baker who, before his retirement, worked at Dartford Borough Museum for nearly forty years and is a contributor to the Dartford Town Archive and a member of Kent Archaeological Society.
Flanked by Prospect Place Retail Park, Priory Road and the railway tracks, it is likely that many shoppers and visitors to Dartford are unaware that part of a Tudor manor house is in the centre of the town. All that remains is the two storey red brick western gatehouse of the manor, which was built for much married King Henry VIII and is now a registry office and wedding venue, opened by long serving Labour MP Sir Sydney Irving in 1993.
On the site of Dartford Priory, dissolved and demolished by Henry VIII during the reformation, this manor house was built between 1541 and 1544 and originally covered twelve acres.
It is hard to imagine Dartford at that time with over 500 workers employed on the construction of this manor house who lodged in the town. Chris showed us examples of schedules showing the trades employed and materials ordered. Henry VIII only stayed one night. Anne of Cleves, his fourth wife who managed to stay in favour and keep her head after they divorced, lived in the manor for several years. Nuns returned to the manor during the reign of Mary but were evicted when Elizabeth I became queen. Her extreme response to an unsatisfactory one night stay was to have the manor demolished.
In Priory Road part of the boundary wall containing a small gate still stands. Observant passers-by may notice that the wall contains blocks of black rock. In his search for The North West Passage, explorer and adventurer Martin Frobisher landed on Baffin Island off the coast of Canada where he found rock which was believed to contain gold. He ordered costly shipments of this rock back to a smelting works to extract the gold. This smelting works with a windmill and five smelting furnaces was in Dartford. Unfortunately no gold was found and the rock was made into blocks, some of which are contained in Dartford Manor boundary walls.
Remains found during archaeological work include huge foundations; brick drains; two grave stones; Medieval and Tudor floor tiles; decorative stonework and a well and toilet. We were astonished that an expanse of the Tudor boundary wall - and who knows what else - was allowed to be torn down when engineering company J & E Hall wanted to expand their site.
Christina Tyler, Programme Organiser
Flanked by Prospect Place Retail Park, Priory Road and the railway tracks, it is likely that many shoppers and visitors to Dartford are unaware that part of a Tudor manor house is in the centre of the town. All that remains is the two storey red brick western gatehouse of the manor, which was built for much married King Henry VIII and is now a registry office and wedding venue, opened by long serving Labour MP Sir Sydney Irving in 1993.
On the site of Dartford Priory, dissolved and demolished by Henry VIII during the reformation, this manor house was built between 1541 and 1544 and originally covered twelve acres.
It is hard to imagine Dartford at that time with over 500 workers employed on the construction of this manor house who lodged in the town. Chris showed us examples of schedules showing the trades employed and materials ordered. Henry VIII only stayed one night. Anne of Cleves, his fourth wife who managed to stay in favour and keep her head after they divorced, lived in the manor for several years. Nuns returned to the manor during the reign of Mary but were evicted when Elizabeth I became queen. Her extreme response to an unsatisfactory one night stay was to have the manor demolished.
In Priory Road part of the boundary wall containing a small gate still stands. Observant passers-by may notice that the wall contains blocks of black rock. In his search for The North West Passage, explorer and adventurer Martin Frobisher landed on Baffin Island off the coast of Canada where he found rock which was believed to contain gold. He ordered costly shipments of this rock back to a smelting works to extract the gold. This smelting works with a windmill and five smelting furnaces was in Dartford. Unfortunately no gold was found and the rock was made into blocks, some of which are contained in Dartford Manor boundary walls.
Remains found during archaeological work include huge foundations; brick drains; two grave stones; Medieval and Tudor floor tiles; decorative stonework and a well and toilet. We were astonished that an expanse of the Tudor boundary wall - and who knows what else - was allowed to be torn down when engineering company J & E Hall wanted to expand their site.
Christina Tyler, Programme Organiser